“It’s not green, it’s greed. Global warming is a serious problem and we cannot continue burning #fossilfuels, but destroying mountains for lithium is just as bad as destroying mountains for coal. You can’t blow up a mountain and call it green.”
#Barroso is the only region in #Portugal – and one of only eight in Europe – recognised by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System of outstanding landscapes that combine agricultural biodiversity, resilient ecosystems and a valuable cultural heritage.
Crutcher attempted to pressure Jimmy into deleting portions of the meeting. Dorece Sam said that was not going to happen because it was a live broadcast
By Brenda Norrell, Censored News
Video by Young Warrior
"A Fort McDermitt tribal leader attacked a minor and choked him. The youth was videotaping a public community meeting being held about financial benefits from lithium mining by Lithium Americas, now digging into the Paiute Massacre Site in northern Nevada.
"The incident was broadcast on #KPFK Los Angeles. It occurred during the quarterly meeting with Lithium Americas and #FortMcDermittTribalCouncil, on Monday, Jan. 8.
During the meeting, Arlo Crutcher, former chairman of Fort McDermitt #Paiute#Shoshone, walked across the conference room where tribal youth Jimmy, a minor, was videotaping."
Groundbreaking study makes huge discovery about recycled #lithium-ion batteries: ‘[This is] increasingly needed’
Brett Aresco
October 26, 2023
"As if you needed yet another reason to #recycle your #electronics with lithium-ion batteries, a study in the science journal Joule shows that recycled lithium-ion batteries may outperform their new counterparts.
"Working in tandem, a group of 27 researchers from institutions like the Argonne National Laboratory and the Brookhaven National Laboratory tweaked the composition of recycled lithium-ion batteries to see how they would perform. They achieved some surprising results.
"To reach their unexpected conclusions, the scientists behind the study made some changes to the cathode, which is the key —and most expensive — component within a typical lithium-ion battery.
"Rather than melting down the entire used battery (as most other recycling processes do), the team was able to salvage the cathode and merely change its structure, resulting in better performance than even a new battery can offer.
:Kang Xu, a U.S. Army Research Laboratory scientist unaffiliated with the study, told Scientific American that the research team’s results were 'very unique and very impressive.' The study’s findings also have the potential to be combined with similar research involving recycled anodes, the counterparts of cathodes.
"In a 2022 study from Rice University published in the journal Advanced Materials, for instance, scientists were able to 'quickly regenerate graphite anode materials found in lithium-ion batteries, removing impurities so they can be used again and again.' [However, where will the 'impurities go? Always consider potential waste sources!]
"Improved lithium-ion battery recycling will not only help the environment and consumers but businesses as well.
"'Battery manufacturers want to know that recycled cathode materials are not inferior to new cathode materials,' said Yan Wang, a scientist from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute who contributed to the Joule study. 'This research shows that recycled materials can electrochemically match or outperform pristine, state-of-the-art cathode materials from tier 1 suppliers.'
"Beyond losing valuable materials and structures that could be reused, failure to recycle lithium-ion batteries can have disastrous consequences.
"In 2017, USA Today reported that 65% of fires at California waste management facilities were caused by discarded lithium-ion batteries. And yet, people can’t seem to stop trashing them: In early February, a garbage truck in Columbus, Ohio, caught fire because a careless consumer threw out their laptop.
"The question of how to make lithium-ion battery recycling profitable has long vexed companies, governments, and #environmental advocates.
"'Economically viable electric vehicle lithium-ion battery recycling is increasingly needed,' a 2021 paper in the journal iScience concluded. 'However routes to profitability are still unclear.' [IT'S ALWAYS ABOUT THE PROFIT, EH?]
"This study has the potential to change that paradigm entirely.
'This work,' the authors write, 'proves that recycled materials could potentially be reused in new batteries and the profitable recycling process could be realized.'
"Luckily, there are a number of startups, like #Germany’s #Tozero and #Canada’s #LiCycle, that are committed to making lithium-ion battery recycling mainstream. With any luck, they will be able to incorporate the lessons learned from this latest study, and more consumers will be willing to give their old batteries another chance."
So, apparently, this #Lithium project didn't pan out because the brine was so corrosive, it destroyed the equipment used to process it. YIKES! #Exxon is planning on using a similar process (closed loop extraction) in #Arkansas.
General Motors looks to California for its next lithium supply
The US automaker is investing in closed-loop extraction from the Salton Sea.
Jonathan M. Gitlin - 7/2/2021,
"CTR's Hell's Kitchen project will extract lithium salts from geothermal brine in the Salton Sea. By using heat from the brine to power the processing, it hopes to produce 15,000 tons of lithium carbonate and 49.9 MW of energy in 2023."
I just came across a piece about #LithiumMining in #Arkansas using a method touted to be "greener". Like I'm always saying, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't true. Also, #ExxonLied then -- who's to say they aren't now?!
Some questions about the plan to mine lithium in south Arkansas
By Sam Watson
November 14, 2023
"What are the environmental impacts here? This question is difficult to answer at this point. Normal lithium extraction is quite #environmentally damaging; it often involves treating brine containing lithium with sulfuric acid and letting the liquid evaporate in open pools, leaving lithium behind. #Exxon stated that they’d use something called 'direct lithium extraction.' There are several versions of this process, but we don’t yet know what Exxon will use. All of them have different environmental impacts, some more severe than others. The key here will be regulation and monitoring, but we have serious concerns here. The Division of Environmental Quality may not have capacity for this kind of continuous monitoring and the state’s friendliness to #OilAndGas makes us worried that upfront regulations to protect the #environment and people of south Arkansas will be lacking at best."
"On this week’s #MakingContact, we bring you a special encore of an episode that first aired in June. We’ll hear an extended interview with #IveyCamilleManybeadsTso, a #queer#Diné filmmaker and director of the award-winning #documentary Powerlands.
"#Cree Journalist Brandi Morin said, 'We are taking back the narrative and this story about North America’s largest lithium mine being constructed while violating sacred Indigenous territories is told from the Native perspective. The 'green' energy revolution isn’t what you think it is!'
IndigiNews Media and The Real News, September 12, 2023
Go watch! @IndigiNewsMedia@TheRealNews@ricochet_en
"Follow Native journalist Brandi Morin, who came from Canada, and covered this powerful story.
"In Nevada’s remote Thacker Pass, a fight for our future is playing out between local #Indigenous tribes and powerful state and #corporate entities hellbent on mining the lithium beneath their land. Vancouver-based Lithium Americas is developing a massive lithium mine at Thacker Pass, but for more than two years several local tribes and #environmental organizations have tried to block or delay the mine in the courts and through direct action.
"The Thacker Pass Project is backed by the Biden administration, and companies like General Motors have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the project, looking to capitalize on the transition to a 'green energy economy,' for which lithium is essential. While it is a vital component in the manufacturing of electric vehicles and batteries, though, there’s nothing “green” about mining lithium. Ending our addiction to fossil fuels is urgently necessary, but the struggle of the local tribes around Thacker Pass reveals the dark side of a 'green revolution' that prioritizes profit and consumption over everything (and everyone) else."
"Duck Valley Paiute-Shoshone Council Member Addie Parker appealed to the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues today, describing the disastrous lithium mining and hydrocarbon plume her people suffer from in northern #Nevada. Parker said there has been extensive #mining here for over 150 years.
"The "new green gold rush" for lithium batteries has brought devastating lithium mining and 'green colonialism.' Currently, there are 70 lithium mining applications in Nevada alone. The so-called 'green' solution actually creates an #environmental nightmare, including the disposal of #batteries.
Parker said there must be a rights-based approach and pointed out that Nevada mining laws are archaic. Paiute Shoshone of #DuckValleyNation opposes more mining and Nevada's new law for increased revenues from mining.
"Since the signing of the Treaty of Ruby Valley in 1863, there has been no mechanism for tribes to share in the benefits of mining. The mining companies are multi-national #corporations and most are from #Canada. They are not required to compensate the people.
"'It violates our Indigenous rights,' Parker said, listing international law violations, including the fre prior, and informed consent as mandated in the UN Declaration on the Rights of #IndigenousPeoples.
President #Biden's order to consult with #tribes is also being violated.
"Describing the illegal exploration of their resources, she said Paiute-Shoshone children are suffering because of it. 'We can't even get money to build a new school,' Parker said, describing how children are forced to attend school on a #toxic site.
"More than 100 members of the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Nation, on the Nevada #Idaho border, have died over the years due to #cancer. It is a large number for a tribe of about 3,00 people, reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal. There was one thing they had in common: they all attended the same school on the reservation.
"The 70-year-old Owyhee Combined School, where tribal members have been educated for generations, sits adjacent to hydrocarbon plumes that lie underneath the town, Chairman Brian Mason said. He thinks the school, where drinking water was once #contaminated by the plumes, is the root of the problem.'"