The A2 Times

In South Dakota’s Black Hills, A Lithium Boom Promises More of the Same from Mining Industry

by Stewart Sinclair

The Schad Lithium operation near Custer, SD. BHCWA experts believe the operation to be an exploratory site. Photo Credit: Journalism to Raise Environmental Awareness, 2022.

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South Dakota’s Black Hills are no stranger to mining. The hills — sacred land to the Lakota — have long been exploited for gold and uranium deposits, the lands scarred and rivers polluted in the process. The area is a relatively small island of lush trees and rolling hills amid a vast expanse of grasslands, but one in every five acres has an active mining claim. Now, mining companies are eyeing the region for another resource: lithium.

Welcome to the “white gold rush” to procure lithium, a vital element used to produce the batteries that power the electric cars, solar cells, and other technologies of the green energy transition. In recent years, a new “Green Colonialism” has underpinned a series of Biden administration actions to spur domestic mining operations, including a 2021 executive order to consider at least five metals — lithium, cobalt, graphite, nickel and manganese — as essential to national security.

That order, along with the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, spurred a boom on domestic lithium and rare earth element claims. These projects disproportionately impact Indigenous communities, since most lithium, cobalt, and nickel reserves are located within 35 miles of a Native American reservation.

"They come into places all over the world and mine and destroy communities and the environment and water. So, we don’t expect lithium companies to be any different.”

The Black Hills Clean Water Alliance has been monitoring these developments across the Hills, and have identified nine lithium operators in the region currently undertaking exploratory work. The companies emphasize the need for clean energy while downplaying the environmental impacts of mining operations.

Dr. Lilias Jarding presenting at the Climate Change-Lithium Mining Conference in Rapid City, SD, on Nov. 4, 2023. Photo Courtesy of Lilias Jarding and BHCWA.

“Mining companies don’t care about the impact so much as they care about making a profit,” Dr. Lilias Jarding, BHCWA’s executive director, said in an interview with Black Hills Fox News, “They come into places all over the world and mine and destroy communities and the environment and water. So, we don’t expect lithium companies to be any different.”

"The argument here is not to halt the green…but to eliminate a mind-set…that looks at the people affected by these practices as little more than collateral damage. ”

Jarding believes that the “green” industry emphasis on electric vehicles to facilitate the transition away from fossil fuels, while important, shifts the environmental burden from cities where these electric vehicles will replace polluting combustion engines to rural communities where the necessary resources will be mined. These rural communities are also the least likely to be able to transition to electric vehicles because of long commutes and a lack of basic infrastructure, such as charging stations, to reliably power and maintain them. The rush to secure lithium also reinforces the historical exploitation of Indigenous lands, without addressing the root issue: US over-consumption.

The argument here is not to halt the green transition or ban electric cars, but to eliminate a mind-set that perceives Earth as an inexhaustible resource — a mindset that looks at the people affected by these practices as little more than collateral damage.

Paula Antoine and Carla Rae Marshall (both members of the Lakota Tribe) at the Climate Change-Lithium Mining Conference in Rapid City, SD, on Nov. 4, 2023. Photo Courtesy of Lilias Jarding and BHCWA.

The urgency of the climate crisis does not justify harmful policies — nor are such policies necessary. Sincere efforts are underway to increase the efficiency of lithium batteries, and to improve methods of recycling existing batteries. But these approaches only slow the rush while ignoring the problems at its core. Innovative thinking, such as more environmentally sustainable batteries, and an emphasis on increasing efficiency while reducing consumption, can help bring about a green transition without exacerbating injustices and inequalities.

Policymakers must understand that unlimited private vehicle use is ultimately incompatible with our planet’s finite resources. A rapid transition away from fossil fuels may require the production of electric vehicles, but if “do no harm” is not a first-principle of that transition, then it will be destined to fail.

This article originally appeared as a feature in Earth Island Journal. Read the full-length version here.

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