Ep. 53: Breaking News: Activists Occupy Site of Proposed Mine in Nevada, with Will Falk
In this podcast with Will Falk and Kollibri terre Sonnenblume, Will describes Thacker Pass where he is currently occupying in resistance to the Lithium Americas new lithium mine. Thacker Pass is part of the beautiful and wild Great Basin of Nevada, and is home to many species of plants and animals. The caldera at Thacker Pass was formed from an inland lake about 15 million years ago, which is when it collected the lithium that the mining company wants to strip mine.
As Will describes in this podcast, the mine will cost about $1.3 billion to get up and running, will destroy about 5,000 acres initially (with plans for expansion later) by strip mining, will require 850 million gallons of water or more (which must be shipped in because it’s an incredibly dry area), and will burn 11,300 gallons of diesel fuel per day. The miners will need to dig up to 500 tons of earth to retrieve each ton of lithium they produce, and will use highly toxic sulfuric acid to leach the lithium from the rock, and produce toxic tailings in the process. It will be the largest hard rock lithium mine in the world if it is built.
Thacker Pass, home to old growth sagebrush, habitat to the critically endangered western sage grouse as well as many other species, should be protected forever. It is public land – “belonging” to “the people”, although of course, it really belongs to the plants and animals who make their home there.
Please help support Will and Max and all the other resisters who are trying to protect this incredible place.
Thank you Will and Kollibri!
Listen to the podcast at Voices for Nature & Peace.
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