Will “Nature” Sue to Prevent Mining of Huge Lithium Deposit?

Here’s the good news. A massive deposit of lithium has been discovered on the border of Oregon and Nevada. From the OilPrice.com story:

A massive new lithium discovery on the border between Oregan [sic] and Nevada could supercharge the country’s white-gold rush. It is estimated that the newly discovered reserves under the ancient McDermitt Caldera holds a whopping 40 million metric tons of lithium. The scale of this deposit is extraordinary, “dwarfing other reserves worldwide.” Just last year, lithium producers were thrilled to find a reserve of 4 million metric tons of lithium in the Smackover Formation, a geologic formation that spans the width of Arkansas. Next to the McDermitt Caldera, that now seems a paltry sum.

This deposit could obliterate China’s current quasi-monopoly on the mineral needed to electrify our economy:

These discoveries could prove to be a critical competitive edge for the United States, which has been struggling to diversify its lithium supply chains away from China in recent years. China alone refines 60% of the world’s lithium, and as trade tensions ramp up between Washington and Beijing based on Donald Trump’s campaign trail promises, developing a domestic lithium industry is more critical than ever before. The timing could not be more ideal, and the scale of the McDermitt deposits could indeed be a launch pad for a “new chapter in energy independence” for the United States.

So, Wesley, what’s the bad news?

You can count on environmental extremists to do whatever they can to impede the mining and refining of lithium.

For example, many in the “nature rights” movement consider the earth to be a living being and seek to protect “Gaia” from harm. Even nature rightists who don’t accept such neopaganistic mysticism want to grant “rights” to nature — including geological features — to “exist and persist” to prevent large resource extraction projects.

Their goal is to unleash widespread lawfare by granting legal standing to anyone and everyone who believes that a given project is violating nature’s “rights” and to thwart the effort through litigation. That approach has already shuttered two copper mining projects — one in Panama and the other in Ecuador — after those countries adopted nature rights laws.

Meanwhile, the “ecocide” movement seeks to criminalize large-scale mining and energy extractions — such as the Alberta tar sands — as the “fifth crime against peace.” This kind of huge extraction project would seem to fit squarely into their indictment.

It’s not that the companies want to despoil the environment beyond remediation. Indeed, the lithium extraction project — as with the Alberta tar sands development — will be mined responsibly:

“The Thacker Pass project goes beyond traditional mining practices. By adopting advanced technologies designed to minimize environmental impact, it aims to set a new standard for sustainable extraction,” Daily Galaxy reports. “From modified panel mining methods to reduced land disruption, the project reflects the growing emphasis on balancing economic development with ecological stewardship.”

We should all applaud that approach. But it’s irrelevant to radicals who want to shrink our economies rather than allow increasing prosperity through the responsible exploitation of natural resources. Indeed, they are already fighting to prevent lithium deposits in Nevada from being exploited.

So, let’s go get that lithium! And let’s prevent the eco-Luddites from interfering, say, by passing laws stating that only humans, our associations, and juridical entities have rights and standing in courts while simultaneously hastening permission processes so that the extraction can get underway toward fulfilling President Trump’s goal of making America “energy dominant.”