DoomsdaysCW<p>Construction begins on controversial <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/lithium" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>lithium</span></a> mine in <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Nevada" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Nevada</span></a></p><p>Opponents say the Thacker Pass lithium project was rushed in the name of the green transition.</p><p>by Gabriela Aoun Angueira, March 3, 2023</p><p>"'It’s an important place not only because a terrible massacre occurred, but also because it’s a place where people gather, it’s a place for ceremony, for hunting,' said Michon Eben, tribal historic preservation officer for the Reno Sparks Indian Colony, a government that includes members from the the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Paiute" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Paiute</span></a>, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Shoshone" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Shoshone</span></a> and <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Washoe" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Washoe</span></a> tribes. The colony is advocating for Peehee Mu’huh to be on the National Register of Historic Places. 'It’s really hard to be a tribal member and see our homelands destroyed,' said Eben.</p><p>"<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ThackerPass" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ThackerPass</span></a> also comprises thousands of acres of <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/sagebrush" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sagebrush</span></a> and is a nesting ground for the sage grouse and a migration corridor for pronghorn <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/antelope" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>antelope</span></a>. Environmental groups including the Great Basin Resource Watch and Western Watersheds Project say the mine would cause irreversible <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ecological" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ecological</span></a> damage, and that the project’s impact was not adequately studied.</p><p>"'It got by the environmental impact statement process in just under a year and I would expect a project of this scale and complexity to take 3 to 5 years,' said John Hadder, director of Great Basin Resource Watch. 'That’s sloppy permitting on the side of the federal government.'</p><p>"Tribes, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/environmental" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>environmental</span></a> groups and a cattle rancher are all plaintiffs in a combined case against the Bureau of Land Management, or BLM, and <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LithiumNevada" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>LithiumNevada</span></a>, a subsidiary of <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LithiumAmericas" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>LithiumAmericas</span></a>. On February 6, a federal judge in Reno ruled that the BLM had complied with federal law in approving the mine, with the exception of one matter regarding waste disposal, which the judge ordered the BLM to revisit. The plaintiffs filed an appeal in the 9th Circuit and an emergency motion to block construction before the appeal hearing. The appeals court rejected the injunction and set the hearing date for June. "</p><p><a href="https://grist.org/climate-energy/construction-begins-lithium-mine-nevada-controversial/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">grist.org/climate-energy/const</span><span class="invisible">ruction-begins-lithium-mine-nevada-controversial/</span></a></p><p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/PeeheeMuhuh" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>PeeheeMuhuh</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NotGreen" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>NotGreen</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/EnvironmentalRacism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>EnvironmentalRacism</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NativeAmericans" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>NativeAmericans</span></a></p>