Mine OK'd in Trump's last days may boost Biden energy plan

One of keys to President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion clean energy plan could be a mineral that lies in a salt flat above a prehistoric volca just south of Oregon-Neva line.

But question of how to extract lithium and wher former President Donald Trump’s Department of Interior rushed a mine through approval process could be an early test for Biden and his minee for Interior secretary, New Mexico Rep. Deb Haaland.

U.S. Bureau of Land Manment issued a record of decision on Trump’s final Friday in office for an open-pit lithium mine at Thacker Pass, which is roughly 53 miles (85 kilometers) rth of Winnemucca, Neva.

Lithium Americas, company behind mine, believes it can supply a quantity "critical for establishing a strong domestic lithium supply chain required to support a low-carbon ecomy,” its President and CEO Jon Evans said in a statement.

Lithium, long used for rechargeable batteries found in cellphones and laptops, is expected to become an increasingly valuable commodity if new ministration pushes carmakers to scale up electric vehicle production. But its extraction has splintered environmentalists. While techlogists are er to use it to transition away from carbon-based fuels, conservationists worry about impact new mines have on endangered species and environment.

approval of mine is among several eleventh-hour decisions issued by Trump’s Department of Interior to vance energy and mining projects, including a West Virginia oil pipeline and an Arizona copper mine on land San Carlos Apache Tribe considers sacred. Unlike those decisions, which could be reversed, Thacker Pass procured final federal permit needed to begin construction — one difficult to overturn.

“We are t going to fix climate if we don’t do it right,” John Hder, executive director of Great Basin Resource Watch, said of approval. “re’s thing ‘green’ about sloppy permitting.”

Hder said he worries efforts to usher in a “green revolution” overshow need to here to established environmental review processes required under federal law.

Shielded by Trump’s executive orders streamlining reviews, he said project’s environmental impact statement was roughly one-third length of reviews prepared for similar-sized projects. Hder said lithium mine will harm wildlife, including s grouse, and threaten water and air quality.

Unlike or projects fast-tracked in Trump's final days, lithium production could bolster Biden's plans to transition ecomy away from fossil fuels.

Trump ministration listed lithium among minerals critical to national security and, amid tre disputes, thought mines could help wean country off of foreign supply. For Biden, boosting domestic production could potentially lower price tag on a key component of his climate plan: offering rebates to consumers to tre in gas-powered for electric cars.

Biden's Department of Interior did t respond to request for comment, but a Wednesday executive order revoking permits for Keystone XL oil pipeline mentions plans “to both reduce harmful emissions and create good clean-energy jobs.” And in October, his campaign reportedly told miners that he wanted to increase lithium production domestically.

enthusiasm could put him at odds with conservationists, who are fighting ar proposed Neva lithium mine y say would destroy Tiehm’s Buckwheat, a desert flower t kwn to exist elsewhere.

Australia-based mining company Ioneer Ltd. is developing plans to mitigate dam to flower by trying to grow replacement plants. executive chairman of its board doesn’t understand why environmentalists want to prevent development of a key element to future “clean energy.”

“Climate change poses an immediate threat to all species on Earth,” James Calaway said late last year. “This will enable nation’s transformation from oil and gas drilling to renewable energy.”

Much of world’s lithium supply comes from Australia and South America, where Chinese firms are heavily invested. Thacker Pass would be second commercial lithium mine in operation in U.S., following a central Neva facility that plans to invest $30 to $50 million to double production. Elsewhere, thousands of claims for mineral have been staked on federal lands by speculators who anticipate carmakers will expand investments into electric vehicles.

Lithium helped lure Tesla to Neva. company opened a massive battery factory near Re in 2016. state sees mineral as key to diversifying its tourism-reliant ecomy and Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak mentioned it specifically in his Tuesday State of State dress.

Lithium Americas said in a statement that company w plans to seek financing for project. Neva has offered company $9 million in tax rebates over a 10-year period. mine is projected to require 1,000 jobs during construction and 300 once completed, generating roughly $75 million in state and local tax revenue over a dece.

Humboldt County Commission Chairman Ken Tipton said mine has garnered some local opposition, but most support it for jobs it could bring.

“Anytime a county of our size gets amount of jobs y’re talking about, it’s a real boon for our ecomy,” he said.

(Im Credit: AP)