The high-desert mountain pass overlooking alfalfa fields and RV parks doesn’t look like a battleground that will shape the country’s clean energy future.
“We can become the Lithium Valley here, based on everything else we have,” said Dev Chidambaram, an engineering professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, who started one of the country’s first battery and energy storage academic programs. “It’s better we do this, rather than somebody else.
Global lithium prices soared more than 400% in 2021, and the surge looks likely to continue. Last month, California said it would ban the sale of gas-powered vehicles by 2035, and Honda announced plans for its first US lithium battery plant.“Our project has to go now — we don’t have a lot of time,” said James Calaway, chairman of ioneer, an Australian firm developing a mine in southwestern Nevada.
“I reached out to [Bureau of Land Management] and said, ‘Okay, hang on. Let’s back up,’” Redstar recalled during an interview in July at the Say When Casino, a faded pink gambling hall just off the reservation known for its cheeseburgers. Through 2021, Redstar had meetings with the Biden-led land bureau and mine officials. She left with assurances the site would be well regulated.They formed People of Red Mountain and joined other tribal groups angry they had not been consulted about the project. They successfully pushed a petition requiring the tribal council to “disengage” from talking to Lithium Americas.
When he first heard chatter about the proposed mine, Bartell didn’t think much of it. Then, he said, he looked closer at the land bureau’s environmental impact statement. By last summer, the People of Red Mountain and two other tribal groups had joined the case, echoing Bartell’s claim that the government had improperly rushed to approve the project and asking a federal judge to halt it. So did the Great Basin Resource Watch, an environmental group.
Working out of a strip mall office in Winnemucca, Anderson has launched training initiatives for a variety of jobs, including construction and heavy equipment operators. She’s also met individually with 35 tribal members to discuss skills and look over their resumes, and after the approval last year teamed with Lithium Americas vice president Tim Crowley — who joined the company after leading the Nevada Mining Association — to host weekly meetings with residents.