For now, the pending archeological dig (desecration) has been postponed as the tribal governments opposed to the mine have managed to force the BLM to delay. Will Falk and the other lawyers working on the case are deep in the thick of things. They are writing dozens of pages of detailed, research-heavy legal briefs and filings every week to meet tight deadlines.
Over the course of the last month, the BLM has been required to provide our attorneys with the “Administrative Record,” and in these documents we’ve found some new evidence of wrongdoing from the BLM and the lithium company. It looks as though they have not just violated NEPA and the National Historic Preservation Act, they’ve violated a bunch of other laws as well, and even violated their own regulations and their own plans.
As winter sets in and the danger of archeological digging this year seems lower, we need people to come hang at camp and be ready to cook a hot meal, help with chores, and otherwise hold down the space.
Contact us if you want to come to camp!
—Upcoming Events—
NLG Legal Observer Training — Nov 15, 2021 at 4pm Pacific Time
https://www.facebook.com/events/218028810373997
Public Hearing about air pollution permit
https://www.facebook.com/events/1737126706485720/
November 18, 2021 at 6pm Pacific Time
Location: Boys and Girls Club, Winnemucca, NV
Public Hearing about water pollution permit
https://www.facebook.com/events/840061386691247/
December 1, 2021 at 6pm Pacific Time
Location: TBD, Winnemucca, NV
Thank you!
Photo: Max Wilbert
Who are the scientists involved in this protest? What are their qualifications and educational background? What are Max Wilbert’s educational qualifications? What are some alternatives to providing lithium for the future of the world? Perhaps providing alternatives would help to foster support.
It doesn’t take a degree on a piece of paper for a person to understand that mining is THE most destructive activity on Earth. It is obvious to anyone who takes 5 minutes to investigate the impacts and harms of mining.
We have been very clear from the beginning that any activity that continues the destruction of the natural world is not sustainable, whether that activity is mining lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite, and copper for EV batteries or mining any other material that is used to make cars, and the roads they drive on. The alternative is to respect the natural world, and to stop destroying the Earth for luxury goods like cars.
Lithium and all the other metals that are used to make batteries and cars are non-renewable resources, just like fossil fuels. They require mining and refining, with toxic by-products like acid mine drainage; mercury, lead, uranium and arsenic tailings; and air pollution and CO2 emissions, just like fossil fuels. A society that convinces itself that somehow it can ignore these facts and call a car “green” and “clean” just because no CO2 emissions are coming out of the tailpipe while that car is being driven is a society profoundly disconnected from reality and the natural world. The sooner we face reality, the sooner we can learn how to live in ways that don’t destroy the one and only planet in the entire Universe we call home.