RENO, Nev. — A U.S. judge has ordered the government to revisit part of its environmental review of a lithium mine planned in Nevada, but denied opponents’ efforts to block it in a ruling the developer says clears the way for construction at the nation’s largest known deposit of the rare metal widely used in rechargeable batteries.
It’s the latest development in a series of high-stakes legal battles that pit environmentalists and others against so-called “green energy” projects President Joe Biden’s administration is pushing to help speed the nation’s transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.The White House says the mine on the Nevada-Oregon line is critical to ramped up efforts to producing raw materials for electric vehicle batteries.
“We need truly just and sustainable solutions for the climate crisis, and not be digging ourselves deeper into the biodiversity crisis,” said Greta Anderson, deputy director of the Western Watersheds Project, one of the plaintiffs considering an appeal.Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images file
She also denied — for the third time — relief sought by Native American tribes who argued it could destroy a nearby sacred site where their ancestors were massacred in 1865.
We are merely trading off environmental dangers. What does that really accomplish?