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The Biden administration has signed off on a controversial plan to build one of the nation’s largest lithium mines, prompting a legal threat from environmentalists worried about the fate of an endangered wildflower.
Ioneer's proposed Rhyolite Ridge lithium and boron mine and processing plant is located in Esmeralda County, Nevada, and would destroy habitat for the Tiehm’s buckwheat, an endangered wildflower that only grows at the site where Ioneer intends to mine.
“By greenlighting this mine, the Bureau of Land Management is abandoning its duty to protect endangered species like Tiehm’s buckwheat, and it’s making a mockery of the Endangered Species Act,” Patrick Donnelly, Great Basin director at the Center for Biological Diversity, told E&E News. “We need lithium for the energy transition, but it can’t come with a price tag of extinction.
Ioneer is angling to move the Rhyolite Ridge project into construction next year, with production beginning in 2028.
Utah's land grab lawsuit would hurt hunters and anglers
In the latest episode of CWP's podcast, The Landscape, Kate and Aaron are joined by Backcountry Hunters & Anglers CEO Patrick Berry to talk about why Utah’s lawsuit seeking control of over 18 million acres of national public land in the state would be terrible for sportsmen and sportswomen across the West. The lawsuit could lead to privatization and increased extraction on public lands, Berry warns, as well as further fragmentation of wildlife habitat.
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We are here at COP16 to ensure our voices are being heard as we call for a national monument for our homelands—Kw'tsán National Monument—and to help amplify the voices of global Indigenous communities who are in the same fight as us to preserve our culture for future generations.” 
