Expansion of the nation’s only operating lithium mine would likely have only a modest impact on its remote Nevada desert location, according to a draft environmental review that looks like a green light for a project the Trump administration wants to streamline.
In a draft environmental impact statement for the Silver Peak mine’s proposed expansion, the Bureau of Land Management identifies few if any complications for the high-profile project planned by Albemarle U.S. for its Esmeralda County site about 200 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
“Since no new water rights are being sought as part of the proposed action, and since pumping at the facility would not change with construction and implementation of the [proposal], impacts on groundwater resources are expected to be negligible, long-term, and regional,” the EIS states.
But environmentalists remain skeptical.
