When we talk about environmental issues in Nevada, we often focus on one thing ... water. That makes sense: The mega-drought we’re in has dropped Lake Mead to levels unseen in almost 90 years.
But climate change, or global warming, is also damaging Nevada’s environment in ways that aren’t so visible.
Increased wildfires which can lead to poor air quality, which can cause asthma and other problems; wildlife habitats are damaged or destroyed; and higher temperatures in summer are a very real threat to human lives.
As part of our ongoing series on environmental issues in Nevada, we talked about some work being done to address those issues statewide. John Hadder, the executive director of Great Basin Resource Watch, joined State of Nevada host Joe Schoenmann, along with Peter Stanton and Carlie Henneman of the Walker Basin Conservancy, and Christi Cabrera-Georgeson with the Nevada Conservation League.
In the Nevada Legislature
The Nevada Conservation League describes itself as the independent political voice of the conservation community.
Cabrera-Georgeson said they have four priorities for the current legislative session: reducing wildlife vehicle collisions and improving habitat connectivity; creating incentives for medium and heavy-duty electric vehicles; increasing access to outdoor recreation and education; and stopping any pro-fossil fuel legislation.
She said wildlife collisions are a huge problem across the West and cause about 200 human fatalities, more than 26,000 injuries and cost taxpayers more than $8 billion.
“Essentially, we're trying to establish a fund to help with the construction, identification and protection of wildlife crossings,” she said. “And these are those overpasses or those underpasses that you'll see crossing highways and major roads.”
Cabrera-Georgeson said they have “folks on both sides of the aisle” in both the Nevada Senate and Assembly. She said she believes everyone wants clean air and a healthy environment.
“Especially in a state like Nevada … we have such great public lands here, so much access to outdoor recreation, but we're also at the forefront of the climate crisis,” she said. “We’re seeing the drought, we’re seeing the wildfires, we’re experiencing it every day.”
She said with Governor Joe Lombardo’s picks to head environmental sectors of state government – James Settelmeyer over the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and Dwayne McClinton as director of the Office of Energy – they have an open door and are ready to work together.
At Walker Lake
If you’ve ever driven from Las Vegas to Reno, you can’t miss Walker Lake. It’s about 50 square miles near the town of Hawthorne, but it used to be much bigger and was once a haven for camping and fishing. Now, the lake can not support any fish life.
Peter Stanton is the executive director of Walker Basin Conservancy, which works on the monumental task of restoring the lake.
Walker Lake once supported 50% of the Mineral County economy, he said, “and because of upstream agricultural diversions, the inflows to the lake have made it too salty to support fish life of any kind.”
Like the Colorado River, there are more water rights issued than there is water in the river that feeds into Walker Lake.
“In the face of all of that complexity, the conservancy comes forward with a straightforward and simple solution, which is to acquire water rights and protect them for environmental benefit,” he said.
Stanton said they work with ranchers and farmers in the Smith and Mason valleys to protect water that has been historically diverted for agriculture for the benefit of Walker River.
“If we lose that human element, we’re missing the point,” he said. “If we're going to have vibrant agriculture, if we're going to have vibrant communities in Mineral County, we need to ensure that the flows of the Walker River are there to support them.“
The lake used to be half the size of Lake Tahoe, but is now one-quarter of the size of Tahoe, and has declined in volume by 90%. Walker Basin Conservancy wants to restore it to 2012 levels.
“That means increased inflows of 50,000-acre-feet per year; that is quite ambitious, but doable. We know the waters in the system. We know it's being used for other purposes. And if we're going to avoid a complete ecological and public health catastrophe at Walker Lake, we have to bring that water use back into balance,” he said. “We're in this unique position to do it with willing participants among the ranching and farming community in the Walker Basin. So today, we've acquired about 26,000 acre feet per year. That's about 50, just over 53%, of our goal. And that took a decade.”
To complete that goal, he said it’s a long road with a lot of work and an ambitious challenge.
Along that road, the sustainability of farming in Nevada will come into question, said Stanton’s colleague Carlie Henneman, Walker Basin Conservancy’s water policy director.
“There's a real strong interest in recreation, as was mentioned before, so people see that there can be a balanced approach to using water in Nevada,” she said.
One of the biggest issues is pumping groundwater, which is an issue throughout the West. The more groundwater that is pumped, and the more that diminishes river flows.
“That means that this is going to affect all users, not just groundwater pumpers, it’s going to affect everyone who’s trying to get water, including us in the basin,” she said. “It's still kind of yet to be seen, what that looks like, you know, groundwater users are coming together in the Walker to talk about these issues and think about ways that they can use less groundwater.”
At Thacker Pass
Nevada was founded heavily on mining. The unique geology of the state makes it a prime target, and a modern example is the fight over a proposed lithium mine at Thacker Pass, near the northern border of the state. Someone with a statewide view of these issues is John Hadder, the executive director of Great Basin Resource Watch. He’s also a chemistry professor at Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno.
Great Basin Resource Watch is an environmental justice nonprofit formed in 1994. Their mission is to work with communities to protect their land, air, water and culture from the negative effects of mining.
“We think it's important to have a rapport with industry and regulators at the same time. Yes, mining is enormously destructive. Whatever habitat is there is largely obliterated, and it’s very disruptive to communities. So we hope to see a transition towards a circular economy where we're not extracting and throwing away, and that we're reusing and recycling and so hopefully, the need for the kind of damage that's done by mining will be minimized,” he said.
This week, a federal judge made a decision that will allow construction on the Thacker Pass mine to begin. His group was one of many that had been challenging that permit.
“Normally, a mine of this complexity and scale would take three to five years if there's no complications. So it moved quickly, ran over community concerns in our view, and doesn't optimally protect the environment,” Hadder said.
They’re not opposed to electric vehicles, which has spurred lithium mining projects across the country, but he said it needs to be done in a way that doesn’t cause unnecessary damage.
“That means that we need to have policies that encourage less individual passenger car use. That's the major problem with transportation in this country,” he said.
He said we all have a responsibility in the energy transition, but frontline communities are going to take the brunt of lithium extraction.
“I think we need to be mindful of that and how we can move forward,” Hadder said. “And when we destroy these habitats, we destroy the planet's ability to moderate climate. So it's important if we move forward, gotta be careful on how much extraction we do. Because it's another, it's another cut to death by 1,000 cuts, is kind of what they say sometimes.”
Is there any way to do mining in a way that doesn't damage?
That’s a critical question, he said. Here’s how he explained it:
“We work with a network called the Western Mining Action Network, which is composed of roughly 200 individuals, communities that deal directly with mining, and a lot of them are Indigenous communities. And within that network, there's a caucus of Indigenous folks. And they basically are saying, their position is officially that there is no such thing as responsible mining … you can understand their position, because they've been giving up their land, losing cultural sites, losing their heritage, their history, their sense of being as a result of mining. So you can see that position. … A lot of the damage is irreversible. … That will take a long, long time, nature will eventually heal the wound of mining, but it could take 500 years, could take less, could take 1,000, could take a long time depending upon the nature of the mine. In some cases, the mining pits will always be there. And in the case of Nevada, a lot of these mining pits are going to fill with water. And that water will evaporate, will be lost forever. The water that's in the mine pits is not accessible to the public. This is a loss of water. … The water that's left in these mining pits eventually could be a huge amount if we don't take action on that. And on the order of 500- to 60 billion gallons of water could eventually be trapped in these mine pits. And we're talking about you know, 100 years down the road and so forth. So it's not right away.”
Guests: Christi Cabrera-Georgeson, deputy director, Nevada Conservation League; Peter Stanton, executive director, Walker Basin Conservancy; Carlie Henneman, water policy director, Walker Basin Conservancy; John Hadder, Great Basin Resource Watch
