In the summer of 2023, Canadian mining company Rover Critical Minerals proposed a plan to do exploratory drilling for lithium in the Amargosa Desert near the town of Amargosa Valley and the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge. The proposal alarmed the area's residents, as well as conservationists, who banded together and submitted protests to the BLM, which rescinded its approval of the plan. The agency was persuaded by opponents' assertion that the drilling could threaten the local water supply and — more critically — the many threatened and endangered species that the refuge harbors. Onlookers breathed a sigh of relief and thought the effort had been nipped in the bud.
But it hadn't. Around six months later, Rover was back with a new plan. The loose coalition that had formed the first time around came back together. Their challenge: How to stop an activity that a developer essentially has a right to by Nevada law?
Nevada Current reporter Jeniffer Solis spent some time in the area, and the resulting feature can be read (and listened to) in the April 2023 issue of Desert Companion. KNPR's State of Nevada Host Joe Schoenmann talked to Solis about the coalition battling Rover, the antiquated mining law that gives companies like it sweeping rights, and what's at stake for the people, plants, and animals of Amargosa.
Guest: Jeniffer Solis, Nevada Current reporter
