A conservation group in Nevada — a state at the epicenter of a lithium rush to feed electric vehicle batteries — is calling on lawmakers there to hammer out a plan to steer mining projects away from sensitive areas to avoid litigation and threats to vulnerable plants and wildlife.
It’s an approach that, if successful, could be exported to other states across the West, the group says.
Patrick Donnelly, the Great Basin director at the Center for Biological Diversity, asked Nevada’s Joint Interim Standing Committee on Natural Resources in a letter earlier this month to come up with a plan to reduce the number of mines being built in “areas of greatest conflict.”
in a letter earlier this month
Donnelly hopes the interim committee agrees to investigate more than 80 lithium projects that have been proposed on Nevada’s public lands, hold a hearing on the matter and ultimately recommend a bill for next year’s full biennial legislative session.
