Environmental groups have lost their legal bid to halt an open pit lithium mine in Nevada that they say will impinge on the habitat of an endangered desert wildflower.
U.S. District Judge Cristina Silva on Friday rebuffed calls from the Center for Biological Diversity and several allied organizations to halt Ioneer’s proposal for an open-pit lithium and boron mine and processing plant in Esmeralda County, Nevada.
Silva, a former federal prosecutor who was appointed to the bench by former President Joe Biden, concluded that the Bureau of Land Management complied with federal law when it issued a record of decision that advanced Ioneer’s proposal. BLM complied with the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act, Silva concluded.
“I find the challenged agency action to be lawful,” she wrote.
