![]() “It’s self-contradictory.1 of6 In this undated photo provided by NASA, a satellite captures the Railroad Valley (RRV), a dry lakebed in Nevada, for conducting ground-based calibration of Earth-observing satellite instruments. “Essentially, your actions are boiling down to, ‘There’s a problem that we want to keep worrying about but NOT allow to be solved,’ ” he said. He told the bureau in earlier public comments that by establishing obstacles to Railroad Valley lithium mining, it was undermining efforts to combat climate change. Other opponents of BLM’s move include James Ingraffia, founder of the energy exploration company Lithium Arrow LLC. ![]() “This project is a vital part of transitioning to a green economy, creating good-paying American jobs, combating climate change, ending America’s over-reliance on foreign adversaries and securing a domestic supply chain for critical and rare earth minerals,” Moore said. He joined Amodei in testifying last week before the House Resources Subcommittee on Mining and Mineral Resources. But the firm claimed to have done extensive research in anticipation of future plans to extract the brine-based lithium resource it said is one of the 10 largest deposits in the world.Ĭhairman Kevin Moore said the tract’s withdrawal likely will prevent his energy company from pumping the “super brine” from about one-third of its claims there, including the deepest, richest deposits holding about 60% of the site’s value. The Carson City, Nevada, company holding most of the mining claims, 3 Proton Lithium Inc., had not submitted any formal project plans in 2021 when NASA requested the land withdrawal. “Yet they support blocking a project to develop the lithium necessary for their clean energy objectives.” “It is supposedly a goal of the Biden Administration to boost the development of renewable energy technology and reduce carbon in our atmosphere,” Amodei said. Mark Amodei told a House subcommittee last week that the decision underscores the “hypocrisy” of President Joe Biden’s administration. “As our nation becomes ever more impacted by an evolving and changing environment, it is critical to have reliable and accurate data and imagery of our planet,” said Mark Moneza of Planet Labs, a San Francisco-based satellite imaging company that has relied on NASA’s site to calibrate more than 250 of its satellites since 2016.Ī Nevada congressman introduced legislation earlier this month seeking to revoke the bureau’s decision to withdraw the land from potential mining use. The bureau has spent nearly three years fighting mining challenges of all sorts from conservationists, tribes, ranchers and others who want to overturn approval of a huge lithium mine in the works in northwest Nevada near the Oregon line. “No other location in the United States is suitable for this purpose,” the Bureau of Land Management concluded in April after receiving NASA’s input on the tract 250 miles (400 kilometers) northeast of Las Vegas. NASA says the long, flat piece of land above the untapped lithium deposit in Nevada’s Railroad Valley has been used for nearly three decades to get measurements just right to keep satellites and their applications functioning properly. Bureau of Land Management has agreed to withdraw 36 square miles (92 square kilometers) of the eastern Nevada terrain from its inventory of federal lands open to potential mineral exploration and mining. But NASA says the same site - flat as a tabletop and undisturbed like none other in the Western Hemisphere - is indispensable for calibrating the razor-sharp measurements of hundreds of satellites orbiting overhead.Īt the space agency’s request, the U.S. Yet opposition to mining one particular desert tract for the silvery white metal used in electric car batteries is coming from unusual quarters: space.Īn ancient Nevada lakebed beckons as a vast source of the coveted element needed to produce cleaner electric energy and fight global warming. (AP) - Environmentalists, tribal leaders and others have fought for years against lithium mining ventures in Nevada.
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