In eastern Nevada, Rhyolite Ridge is the site of a battle that could have far-reaching consequences for the United States’ shift to electric vehicles.
It’s the site of a huge lithium deposit that Australian mining company Ioneer wants to develop. The company says its proposed mine could produce enough lithium for 370,000 electric car batteries and hundreds of jobs in an area that could use them.
But Rhyolite Ridge is also the only place on Earth where the endangered Thiem’s buckwheat grows.
Conservationists fear the plant will be rendered extinct, and they argue there isn’t enough water in the region to supply a 7,000-acre mine like the one Ioneer proposes anyway. In September, the Bureau of Land Management, or BLM, gave its final approval to the developer’s final environmental impact statement.
Soon after the Center for Biological Diversity sued to stop the project. What does it mean for the future of the site and renewable development?
NPR reporter Kirk Siegler was at the site of the mine this week.
Guest: Kirk Siegler, national reporter, NPR
