We are very sad to report that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have agreed to let Lithium Nevada destroy golden eagle habitat at Thacker Pass.
Here is their announcement:
“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service received an application from Lithium Nevada Corporation requesting eagle take coverage under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. The application requested authorization for incidental disturbance take of one golden eagle breeding territory located in proximity to the proposed Thacker Pass Lithium Mine Project in Humboldt County, Nevada. Project operations and activities may disturb the golden eagles and prevent them from breeding and producing offspring.
…the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to issue a permit to Lithium Nevada Corporation for incidental disturbance take of one golden eagle breeding territory in the vicinity of Thacker Pass Lithium Mine Project. We anticipate issuing the permit in April 2022.”
As we’ve said countless times, a “permit” is a permission to destroy the land, in this case, land that is critical habitat for golden eagles.
As Max Wilbert wrote back in February, 2021:
“It is a federal crime for me or you to harm an eagle, or to disturb or destroy their nest. It’s even a crime for non-Natives to possess a single feather. But as usual, in an extractive economy, corporations don’t have to play by the same rules as we do.
Lithium Americas Corporation, the company behind the proposed lithium mine at Thacker Pass, has asked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) for an “incidental take” permit. And it’s likely the agency will grant it.
The law was designed with loopholes to ensure that wildlife never get in the way of “progress.” At the end of 2016, the Fish and Wildlife Service under the Obama administration weakened protections for bald and golden eagles at the behest of the wind energy industry. Progress, after all, should never be halted.
The USFWS permit would allow Lithium Americas to legally kill golden eagles and disrupt or destroy nests and habitat. If the proposed open-pit mine at Thacker Pass is built, it would impact up to a dozen breeding pairs of golden eagles who reside in this area—and maybe far more.
An insider with knowledge of the situation told me that the population surveys used by USFWS are known for “making sure corporations get their permits.” Eagles mustn’t get in the way of profits.
There are only 40,000 golden eagles left in this country, and that number continues to dwindle.”
If you would like to call and tell the US Fish and Wildlife Service what you think of their decision, you can do so here: (916) 414-6600
#ProtectThackerPass #LoyaltyToLandAndLife
Mixed media collage: Transgression, by Elisabeth Robson
I have been trying to contact BLM and the message : office is closed due to covid-19.
But opened in 2020 for lithium americas/nevada mining co . To illegally give out permits ?
Really ?
2020 I was home worried about my loved ones and what was next?
This is what comes of privatizing government functions. Everything is fast becoming pay-to-play, with the public literally shut out.
Instead of trying to kill the entire project…(we need lithium if we want electric cars-because fossil fuel cars are worse)…, why not work with all the parties involved, that has a tax on the mine, the mining company must build a new, substitute habitat at another location. Work together.
Where would that “substitute habitat” be located? Because all the other habitats are already taken by the animals and plants who are there now. Habitats that are in increasingly short supply given how much of the planet humans have already damaged or destroyed (2/3 according to a recent article). There is no “substitute habitat”. That would be like me telling you: “There’s a new big box store that’s going to get built right where your house is. But it’s okay we’ll move you into this other house that you’ll share with the family who already lives there.” Would you be okay with that?
It’s not clear, not to me anyway, that EVs are any better than fossil fuel cars. EVs take a lot of “resources” to build, so much that the CO2 emissions savings are relatively minor, and the impact to the natural world may be greater because of the mining required to obtain the many metals and minerals required for the batteries, and the high tech industry required to build the cars. Did you read my piece about the number of Thacker Pass mines that would be required to replace all the 300 million cars in the United States? Over 300 Thacker Pass mines. And that’s just for the lithium. That doesn’t include the copper mines, the cobalt mines, the graphite mines, the manganese mines, the aluminum mines, the nickel mines, the coal mines.
Besides all that, we know that cars – no matter how they are powered – and car culture are bad for the natural world, and bad for us. Cars mean roads. Cars mean horrible commutes to work. Cars mean over-tourism. Cars and roads mean erosion, toxic pollution, fragmented habitats, dead animals from impacts, and dead humans from car accidents.
Environmentalists used to understand that cars and car culture are bad. Corporations have successfully convinced many “environmentalists” to lobby hard for more cars in the name of “green”. Green money for them and the green “I did something good!” pretense for the person substituting one destructive car for another. It’s a lie. A very successful lie.
I, personally, am not willing to trade a fuel-intensive transportation system for a materials-intensive one, because the impacts from either are horrific. Are we really willing to sacrifice what’s left of the natural world just so we can have cars? That is insane. Working together is not a solution when there is no compromise: we humans, and all the species with whom we share this planet, cannot live without healthy, functioning, thriving ecosystems. The mining corporations want to destroy those ecosystems. There is no such thing as “responsible mining”. At the end of the day, those ecosystems are gone, and with them, all the living beings who once called these places home.
Heartbreaking
It is heartbreaking to find out that once again a government agency has broken laws .
We pay for for there serve with taxes and permits to protect this beautiful state and it’s wildlife not lithium Americans mining Co .
And yes
Heartbroken once again for the disrespect that our government officials have shown .