With a federal push for years to mine more lithium for electric batteries — one of many efforts to reverse human-caused climate change — Nevada’s mineral resources have been a major target.
A week ago, the Department of Energy approved a loan of nearly $1 billion to an Australian company to mine lithium from Rhyolite Ridge, a mostly remote area west of Goldfield. That was under President Joe Biden, who was generally felt to be more hands-off regarding the environment.
So it came as something of a surprise, and relief, when it was also announced that the Bureau of Land Management was temporarily stopping any potential lithium mining near Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, northwest of Pahrump
The bureau instead will spend the next two years reviewing the area’s ecosystem, groundwater and sacred Indigenous sites as it considered a full withdrawal.
Guest: Mason Voehl, executive director, Amargosa Conservancy
