In a remote desert near the Oregon-Nevada border lies a caldera carrying the largest known lithium deposit in the U.S. and one of the largest in the world — a treasury of naturally-occurring material some see as the future of green energy and others say is better left alone.

Bounded by the Montana and Double H mountains, 18,000-acre Thacker Pass is a proposed lithium mine site on land managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

The project would be the second lithium mine in the U.S.; the other is the smaller Silver Peak Mine, also in Nevada, in operation since the 1960s.

The planned Thacker Pass project is now tangled up in court and has spawned strife in the region, pitting rancher against rancher, some tribal members against others and green energy advocates against other environmentalists.

“There’s definitely tension between groups that often agree,” said Max Wilbert, an organizer for Protect Thacker Pass, a group opposing the mine.

Project proponents say lithium from the area’s clay deposits is needed to make batteries for electric cars to reduce America’s reliance on fossil fuel.

Supporters say the project could also boost rural economies near the Oregon-Nevada border.

Opponents say the mine will pollute water, threaten wildlife, maim sacred tribal lands and potentially endanger communities. Electric vehicles, some say, are not as “green” as they seem.

Green revolution

The mine proposal comes during a push from the federal government to produce more lithium in the U.S. with the aim of transitioning to electric vehicles.

Last year, President Joe Biden said America is too reliant on foreign sources for minerals. In a White House fact sheet published last December, the administration said it is taking actions to encourage more domestic lithium sourcing.

“The Biden Administration has funded two dozen teams to expand sourcing of lithium geothermal brines and approved a permit for the Nevada-based Thacker Pass lithium mine,” the statement said.

Under initial permits, Lithium Nevada Corp., the company that has proposed the mine, has been approved to extract 60,000 tons of battery-grade lithium carbonate annually over a 41-year lifespan: enough to make about 1 million car batteries annually.

The Thacker Pass mine, however, presents a case of dueling environmental interests.

On the one hand, electric vehicle advocates say lithium will power the green revolution. On the other, the project faces litigation from some ranchers, environmentalists and tribal members who say the mine will have devastating environmental impacts.

Environmental costs

The mine would reach into the ancestral lands of the Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribes, the Burns Paiute Tribe, Reno-Sparks Indian Colony and Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of Duck Valley Indian Reservation.

Some of these tribes vocally oppose the project. The Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, for example, has joined the Burns Paiute Tribe in a federal lawsuit to stop the mine.

The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Nevada, alleges the project would negatively impact wildlife, including sage grouse, birds whose populations have been declining.

“This is one of the last areas, especially here in Nevada, for sage grouse habitat,” said Michon Eben, tribal historic preservation officer for the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony.

A final environmental impact statement prepared by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management found that the project is likely to disturb thousands of acres of potential habitat and range for migratory birds, mule deer, bighorn sheep and pronghorn antelope.

The report also found that mining sounds are likely to disrupt sage grouse breeding and nesting.

However, BLM has created protocols to limit wildlife disruptions and concluded threats to sage grouse would not be significant. Some who disagree with BLM’s conclusions are suing.

Citing BLM records, Will Falk, the attorney representing the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, said that the mining process will also leave high concentrations of arsenic and antimony in the backfill pit, likely exceeding drinking water standards for 300 years post mine closure, although BLM predicts the antimony won’t migrate outside the mine’s boundary.

“You know, there’s such an irony here,” said Falk. “They’re calling this green.”

Edward Bartell, a rancher with cattle and rye outside nearby Orovada, is similarly worried that when the mine starts pumping water, the water table will drop in quantity and quality.

Bartell has sued the district manager of BLM’s Winnemucca office, along with the Department of the Interior, for approving the mine.

Several grassroots groups also oppose the mine, including People of Red Mountain, formed by Fort McDermitt citizens, and Protect Thacker Pass, formed by environmentalists.

Wilbert, of Protect Thacker Pass, said he joined the cause because he’s “in love with the land”: the pristine landscape, the mountains, the vast stretches of wilderness.

Opposition to the mine is not confined to environmental concerns; it is also a battle over culture.

Cultural collision

To the Paiute people, Thacker Pass is called Peehee mu’huh, or rotten moon, for its crescent-moon shape and grisly history.

According to the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes’ oral traditions, it was here that federal soldiers massacred at least 31 Paiute people in 1865.

To this day, tribal citizens visit the site to gather traditional foods, collect medicinal plants and honor their ancestors.

“First and foremost, this is a cultural place,” said Eben, of the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony. “I’m not going to put a price on cultural property.”

In their federal lawsuit, the tribes allege that BLM failed to properly consult with affected tribes or take the massacre into consideration.

U.S. District Judge Miranda Du, who is presiding over the case, rejected the claims and allowed Lithium Nevada to proceed with archaeological excavation, citing insufficient evidence that the massacre occurred at the mine site.

Some tribal members are also concerned that a mine will flood the region with temporary construction and mining workers who might bring crime with them.

Studies at the University of Colorado-Boulder have found that, in some communities, higher rates of missing and murdered indigenous women have been linked to male workers living in temporary camps set up for extraction industries — oil, gas and mining — near reservations.

Lithium Nevada says it plans to hire as many permanent, local workers as possible and is partnering with Great Basin College to train local residents.

“We are a committed community partner — providing training to create a local workforce and developing one of the most environmentally sound lithium projects in the world,” said Tim Crowley, Lithium Nevada’s vice president of government affairs and community relations.

Residents of nearby communities also expect the project will intensify housing pressure and traffic.

But with a mine comes economic opportunity, and for that, many are excited.

Economic potential

Rural communities near the mine — both in Oregon and Nevada — stand to gain economically.

According to an economic impact assessment by the University of Nevada-Reno’s Center for Economic Development and the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension, the Thacker Pass mine is projected to generate $265 million in economic activity in Humboldt County, Nevada, and more than $18 million in tax revenues.

The mine is expected to create about 300 direct jobs and many more indirect jobs.

Industry experts say that to be competitive as an employer, Lithium Nevada will need to offer workers $60,000 to $90,000 salaries — significantly more than average wages in the area.

According to U.S. Census data, nearly 40% of residents at Fort McDermitt live in poverty. The median household income is about $16,000.

For some residents, the promise of high-paying jobs is heartening.

Alana Crutcher, 49, a member of the Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribes and former mining industry worker, is one of many community members who supports the proposal.

“My take on the project is that we have the opportunity of a lifetime,” said Crutcher.

Crutcher says she grew up in a small house with seven other children that had no bathroom, running water, heaters, phone or internet until she was in middle school.

“We’re a poor tribe,” said Crutcher. “But this mine would bring jobs, education, opportunities.”

Lithium Nevada has also committed to fund a new community and daycare center, road improvements, “green” homes and other infrastructure.

What’s the alternative?

Some say the most important question is: What’s the alternative to this mine?

Here too, people disagree.

For Will Falk, the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony’s attorney, the alternative is moving away from a car-centric world.

“When we’re talking about solutions, I think we need to understand that the whole life cycle of producing a car is horribly destructive. It’s not just the battery. It’s all the steel manufacturing, all the plastic in the windows, it’s all the rubber,” said Falk. “It’s a really curious thing to me that somehow humans have been tricked in the last century or so to think that they need cars.”

Wilbert, of Protect Thacker Pass, shares a similar line of reasoning, saying the solution to the climate crisis is society giving up its attachments to mass transportation and mass consumption.

“We need to dramatically scale down,” said Wilbert.

Others say these environmentalists’ ideals are unrealistic.

Glenn Miller, an environmental chemist, emeritus professor and co-chair of the University of Nevada-Reno’s Natural Resources and Environmental Science Department, is a self-described critic of mining for 40 years yet has come out in support of Lithium Nevada’s mine.

“Of its size, it will be the most benign mine I have ever examined,” said Miller.

Miller supports the mine for a few reasons.

The first has to do with the geography. Lithium deposits worldwide are found in different materials: some in hard rock, others in brine. Thacker Pass is unique in that the lithium is suspended relatively close to the surface in soft clay, meaning it can be mined largely by scooping, with minimal need for blasting.

Elsewhere, Miller said, lithium extraction is geographically and chemically more destructive: for instance, in Australia, where geography demands grinding, crushing and heat-treating; in China, where processing standards vary; or in the “Lithium Triangle” of Chile, Argentina and Bolivia, where magnesium levels make mining difficult.

The mine at Thacker Pass, Miller said, would be “less damaging” to the environment.

The second reason why Miller supports this mine is because it’s in Nevada.

While much of the U.S. operates under an 1872 general mining law many consider outdated, Nevada has more stringent mining laws enacted by the state’s Bureau of Mining Regulation and Reclamation in 1989.

Miller, in fact, helped shape these laws early in his career because he was concerned about mining companies “beating up the wilderness” and poisoning water supplies.

Prior to 1989, a mining company could declare bankruptcy and leave an abandoned mine. Now, a company must meet a state bonding requirement guaranteeing the mine’s reclamation and cleanup will be paid for even if the project or company fails.

Lithium Nevada’s plan for Thacker Pass is also different from many other open-pit mines in that it will be conducted using a method called “block mining”: mining in one panel, or block, at a time, and backfilling as work progresses.

Although Miller admitted Nevada’s laws are imperfect, he said “we should perhaps be more concerned about how lithium extraction happens in less well-regulated parts of the world.”

Miller said he isn’t under the illusion that the mine will benefit everyone.

“There are always tradeoffs, whose ox is being gored,” he said.

But the alternative, Miller said, is continued reliance on fossil fuels and imported lithium.

Loyd Sherburn, the rancher closest to the project who has sold his water rights to Lithium Nevada, agreed with Miller.

“Nevada law is set up for mining,” said Sherburn. “Better here than elsewhere. I believe it’s going to be in somebody’s backyard, and if it’s going to be in my backyard, I’m all right with it.”

What’s next?

Lithium Nevada has received all major state permits and a Record of Decision from the U.S. Department of the Interior. Pre-construction is scheduled to begin later this year.

Litigation is ongoing, however, and those who oppose the mine have not given up.

“We’re going to keep pushing hard,” said Wilbert, of Protect Thacker Pass. “We’re fighting as hard as we can.”