APPEALS COURT DENIES BID TO HALT NEV. LITHIUM MINE
Construction to continue as appeal moves forward
A federal appeals court refused Wednesday to block construction of the largest lithium mine in the U.S. while it considers claims by Nevada conservationists and tribes that the government illegally approved it in a rush to produce raw materials for electric vehicle batteries.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied a request for an emergency injunction that would have prevented a subsidiary of Lithium Americas from moving forward with the project near the Oregon line at the third largest known lithium deposit in the world.
Construction was under way Wednesday, company spokesperson Tim Crowley confirmed in an email to The Associated Press.
Billions of dollars in investments are at stake in the legal battle at the forefront of so-called green energy development in the largest gold-producing state in the nation.
Neighboring California — the nation’s largest car market — plans to end the sale of new gas cars and trucks in a little over a decade, which will further drive up demand for electric vehicle batteries.
Lawyers for the mining company and the Biden administration said in court filings on Tuesday that further delay was undermining efforts to combat climate change as the 2-year-old legal battle lingers and demand continues to grow for the key component in batteries for electric vehicles.
Reserves at the Thacker Pass mine, expected to begin production by the end of 2026 about 200 miles northeast of Reno, would support lithium for more than 1.5 million electric vehicles per year for 40 years, the company said.
“There are no other U.S. alternatives to Thacker Pass to provide lithium at the scale, grade or timeline necessary to begin closing the gap between the lithium available and the lithium needed to achieve the U.S.’s clean energy and transportation goals,” its lawyers wrote.
Lithium Nevada said it already has invested over $150 million in the mine, and projects capital costs of $2.3 billion for its first phase.
On Wednesday, the San Francisco-based court scheduled expedited filing deadlines through April on the merits of the appeal, but its four-page ruling didn’t explain its rejection of the injunction.
It marked a significant setback for environmentalists and tribes trying to block the project who say they support efforts to replace fossil fuels with renewables but that the mine would destroy essential wildlife habitat and sacred cultural values.
“By the time our general appeal to the Ninth Circuit is heard, irreversible damage to the environmentally and culturally sensitive area known as Thacker Pass will have occurred unnecessarily,” John Hadder, director of the Great Basin Resource Watch, said after Wednesday’s ruling.
Opponents of Lithium Nevada Corp.’s project had filed an emergency motion with the 9th Circuit on Monday after U.S. District Judge Miranda Du in Reno rejected their latest request to put the case on hold until the San Francisco-based appellate court could hear their appeal.
“This massive open pit mine has been fast-tracked from start to finish in defiance of environmental laws, all in the name of ‘green energy,’ but its environmental impacts will be permanent and severe,” Talasi Brooks, a lawyer for the Western Watersheds Project, said after Wednesday’s ruling.
“It is a disappointment to see valuable biological, cultural and visual resources sacrificed for a strip-mine that has been greenwashed to be good for the environment,” said Kevin Emmerich, co-founder of Basin and Range Watch.