Not many people live out there. Not many macro-scale animals, either. Very, very few plants. Southeast Oregon/Northwest Nevada is very, very desolate so mining isn’t going to be too awful in terms of ecological impacts that we pay attention to.
It’s in the watershed of a major tributary to the snake river. This isn’t a matter of what goes on a few miles from the dig site. I grew up along a creek with mine runoff in it. After a big enough rainstorm it wasn’t uncommon to see a bunch of dead fish and frogs and such. Yellow foam on the water all the time. There will be a cost to this.
So let the US absorb the environmental cost rather than exporting it to developing nations run by warlords who have ZERO environmental regulations or accountability for the health of their citizens.
The US isn’t some environmental paragon but it is one degree removed from 3rd world hell holes that can’t wait to exploit their environment to the maximum.
Also be glad this was found in an arid rocky nowhere desert instead of in the heart of the Amazon or on top of an aquifer that millions depend on.
It’s all relative, but if you accept that litihium is already established as an essential element for the modern world (and how can anyone deny this) then everything about this discovery is relatively good news.
And that’s not even to mention the environmental benefits of making batteries cheaper so that renewable energy storage and electric cars and other beneficial technologies can scale up more.
At least some regulations are in place in the US to make it not the worst place I guess.
I don’t know how it’s regulated in Australia, Chile and Argentina (honestly I would love someone to enlighten me,) but I suppose less dependency on ccp is a good thing.
I’m curious, is lithium mining any worse for the environment than any other mining? If so, why is that?
Because it seems to me that all mining is terrible for the environment, and there’s no reason that I know to complain about lithium over gold or oil or coal.
A fair point, although recycling only provides a fraction of the replacement needs of a population. Some things are only partially recyclable and other things are not recyclable at all, at least not without massive energy cost and industrial capacity.
Mining is a much more significant part of life than most people suppose. There’s an old saying “if it isn’t grown, it’s mined.” Think that one through with as many examples as you can and you’ll realize that aside from wood and food, we mine virtually everything: salt, metals, all the gravel for roads, rare earth elements, gases like helium, all petroleum products namely plastics, etc etc it goes on and on.
Yet there are still people in the world that think “It’s 2023 - why haven’t we done away with mines?”
This land, Peehee Mu’huh, is the site of multiple massacres pre- and post- colonization as well as the home to oldgrowth sage, animals, and medicine sacred to native groups.
This mine will burn sulfuric acid and use 1.7 billion gallons of water per year in one of the driest areas on the continent.
The permits were rushed through under trump and only 3 of the at least 27 tribes affected were notified and consulted on the cultural heritage of the site before approval.
As a reminder electric cars are being pushed to save the car industry, not the planet.
There are other energy storage options, such as sodium-ion batteries, which are almost as efficient with current technology and improving every day. Sodium-ion batteries are slightly larger at present for the same energy storage, but for stationary batteries (powering perhaps a streetcar service) that hardly matters.
Table salt is also plentiful and cheap.
There are better option than mining this lithium, but fucking native groups over would make some people (not the land's traditional stewards—who want the lithium left in the ground) incredibly rich, which is why it's being pushed.
Not sure why anyone tries so hard to look obtuse. Ya know what lithium turns into and how terrible oil drilling is for the environment. Overall it’s a clear climate victory.
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