Protect Thacker Pass
We are a grassroots collective resisting the planned Thacker Pass lithium mine in northern Nevada and working to protect the land.
Why is Thacker Pass important?
- Thacker Pass, known as Peehee Mu’huh in Paiute, is sacred to regional Native American tribes. Two massacres took place in Thacker Pass (in 1865 and in pre-history), and the land is still used today for ceremonies, traditional hunting and gathering, and educating young Native people. ➡️ Read more about sacredness and Lithium America’s involvement in human-rights violations in Argentina.
- Thacker Pass is critical wildlife habitat for threatened, endangered, and endemic species including the greater sage-grouse, pronghorn antelope, Lahontan cutthroat trout, golden eagles, Crosby’s buckwheat, and old-growth sagebrush habitat. ➡️ Read more about wildlife and habitat impacts.
- The Thacker Pass mine is based on lies and “greenwashing.” Lithium Americas Corporation is pretending that blowing up a mountain, destroying sacred sites, harming wildlife, releasing 150,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually, and burning more than 11,000 gallons of diesel fuel per day is “green.” ➡️ Read more about greenwashing and the lie that this is a green mine.
- The mine project would suck more than 4 million gallons of water per day from an over-pumped aquifer in the driest state in the country, and pollute water and air with uranium, antimony, and other toxic substances. ➡️ Read more about water and air pollution.
- This project is a threat to democracy. If this mine is built, it will make a mockery of democracy through expedited permitting, flawed scientific analysis, corporate-government backroom collaboration, truncated public commenting, and inadequate tribal consultation. ➡️ Read more about the government’s complicity.
What’s the status of the mine?
After an expedited permitting process under the Trump administration, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) approved Lithium Americas Corporation’s plan to build a massive lithium mine and refinery at Thacker Pass on January 15th, 2021.
Construction has been repeatedly delayed due to our protest camp (which was on-site from the day the project was approved until October 2021), lawsuits, and concerted opposition from regional Native American tribes, environmental organizations, and the local farming and ranching community.
The ongoing lawsuits to stop the project are expected to culminate in a decision in winter 2023. Will Falk, co-founder of Protect Thacker Pass, will be arguing in front of the judge as attorney for the Reno Sparks Indian Colony. But these lawsuits are not everything. We are using many strategies to fight this mine, and expect the battle for Thacker Pass to continue for some time.
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Recent updates
Update from Thacker Pass
It's been 10 months since I first arrived at Thacker Pass and began work to protect the land from a proposed open-pit lithium mine in earnest. Today I share this video reporting from the land and sharing reflections on where the movement to protect this place is at...
Legal Update
Protect Thacker Pass has been receiving a lot of questions about whether Judge Miranda Du's decision to deny Reno-Sparks Indian Colony and the People of Red Mountain's Motion for Reconsideration of her order denying their Motion for Preliminary Injunction means that...
An Astonishing Amount of Lead
"An Astonishing Amount of Lead" (when legal writing makes me weep) by Will Falk In the early morning hours of September 12, 1865, 18 white soldiers of Company E, 1st Nevada Cavalry, under the command of Captain Robert C. Payne and Lieutenant Littlefield, surprised a...