Editor’s note from Protect Thacker Pass:
This story, which broke last week, is the latest roadblock for Lithium Nevada Corporation. Mr. Bartell’s relentless resistance to the Thacker Pass mine must be commended. He was always kind to us at Thacker Pass, and has fought this project long and hard. Based on this decision, LNC must now likely reapply for water rights reallocation or change of use.
However, given the collusion between the state regulatory agency and the mining industry (remember: the initial establishment of regulatory agencies was welcomed by corporations in the 19th century, who saw them as providing a stable and predictable business environment that would allow for more efficient exploitation of workers and the natural world), we are not terribly optimistic this will be a major impediment to the project. We hope we are wrong, and by this mean no slight to Mr. Bartell or others who engage in these regulatory systems. Rather, we aim to be clear-eyed about how corporate power dominates our government.
Already, this is apparent. LNC has been pumping water without a permit for two months. Now, the agency has permitted them to continue pumping until tomorrow, July 4th. This is essentially government-sanctioned theft — from the public interest, from the land, from Mr. Bartell.
In any just world, LNC would not just be paying significant fines for violating public trust: for all their crimes, they would have their corporate charter revoked, their assets siezed and used to restore the land, and their executives and officers charged with violations of human rights, of international law, of the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and of ecocide. For now, our legal system does not do such things. Instead, it gives out permits to legalize these activities: to make them formal. To certify them. This is essentially the argument for direct action: it is why we must take matters into our own hands.
By: Jeniffer Solis – June 26, 2025 – Nevada Current
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Cattle rancher Edward Bartell waited patiently to take pictures of Lithium Nevada pumping water from a well the mining company had recently lost the right to use.
“I needed to make sure I caught them pumping and had photographs of them pumping, so I could prove that they were illegally using water,” said Bartell, who holds senior water rights in Thacker Pass.
His photos confirmed what the Nevada Division of Water Resources already suspected during an earlier field investigation. Lithium Nevada was, without a permit and despite a court order to halt, still pumping water from a contested well.
The state sent the mining company a cease and desist order Friday.
The Nevada Division of Water Resources, which manages public waters in the state, said Lithium Nevada continued using the well despite being notified in April that their water permits were no longer valid.
Lithium Nevada’s water permits were reversed after Nevada’s Sixth Judicial District Court found the state agency erred when they approved two water permits for mining operations in Thacker Pass without properly analyzing whether the action would conflict with Bartell’s senior water rights.
Lithium Nevada was given 14 days to comply with the cease and desist. Bartell said he’s standing watch to ensure they do.
“It’s very frustrating for a family business to try and keep operating our business when the huge mining company comes in and continues to trample our rights and adversely affect the springs and the ecosystem out there,” he said.
He added, “They’re the neighbor from hell.”
Lithium Americas CEO and President Jonathan Evans in a statement to Current said the company would “continue to follow all laws and guidance from our federal and state partners, and are optimistic we will come to a positive resolution with the state.”
Water watchdog group Great Basin Resource Watch said the reversal of previously granted water permits by the Nevada Division of Water Resource was an example of “sloppy permitting” for a project that was approved unusually quickly.
President Donald Trump approved the Thacker Pass lithium mine project in Nevada five days before his first term ended. It was one of several projects fast-tracked by his administration to advance energy and mining development on public land.
“I’ve never seen a cease and desist order from the state on water rights,” said John Hadder, director of Great Basin Resource Watch. “It doesn’t make sense to try to ignore the law.”
“That’s the rush we’re seeing with a lot of this lithium mining. Just push it through. But there’s consequences if you don’t do it right,” he continued.
Lithium Nevada said it’s looking at several options to cover its immediate water needs as construction continues, but that the company is confident further analysis will restore their previous water permits.
“We are excited to be moving forward with construction on the Thacker Pass lithium project to deliver a U.S.-produced lithium supply chain that reduces American dependence on foreign suppliers for critical minerals,” Evans said in a statement.
Lawsuits and delays have plagued the construction of the planned lithium mine in Nevada for years. Lithium Americas had initially planned to begin lithium production at Thacker Pass by 2026, but several permitting issues and litigation by Nevada tribes and conservation groups helped delay the project. Lithium production at Thacker Pass is now expected to run at full capacity in 2028.
Bartell has been fighting the approval of several water permits awarded to Lithium Nevada for the construction and operation of a massive lithium mine near the Nevada-Oregon border, arguing the mine would deplete the available water for his ranch.
Since 2008, Bartell has used his senior water rights to rear cow calves at his ranch before selling them to buyers across the nation. He fears the water he depends on will soon be drained to extract millions of tons of lithium from clay at Thacker Pass.
“We’ve definitely seen a diminishment of one of the springs. It’s definitely flowing a lot less water than it was,” said Bartell.
Before their permit was revoked, Lithium Nevada was using water from the contested well for construction work. Once the lithium mine is in operation, however, that water would be used to create a slurry out of lithium-infused clay the targeted lithium can be separated from through a complex evaporation process.
While lithium mining is water intensive, Lithium Nevada has repeatedly said their environmental assessment proves Bartell’s ranch will not be negatively affected by their operation.
Bartell was skeptical, arguing “the evidence is very clear that they will dry up our springs, but obviously they will spend enormous sums of money to try and argue otherwise.”
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This story is republished here under the terms of Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
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