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golden eagle also requires protection and is typically shielded by the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Further, the golden eagle is a sacred animal to surrounding tribes. Concerns about plants and wildlife extend beyond the noted few here but serve to represent larger thematic issues at Thacker Pass. According to one environmental stakeholder, the larger problem is that despite being imperiled, many species do not have regulatory protection and should be listed under the ESA. They noted that protecting species under the ESA is difficult and can take more than a decade (Puckett et al. 2016). Stakeholders warned there was a strong chance of mining wiping out a number of species before any federal protection can be provided. Due to the General Mining Law of 1872, the ESA is one of the few laws that can assist in conserving wildlife when a mine is proposed. The mining law serves as the foundation for current U.S. mining practices and essentially allows a mine claim to supersede other uses of the land, circumventing some regulations. Other stakeholders held a different view of the proposed impact of mining. One of the stakeholders interviewed, a wildlife biologist, noted the area was the “Holy Land” for species like the greater-sage grouse, meaning the region has some of the best-known habitat for the sage grouse. They acknowledged the mine would impact the habitat for most wildlife, but they stated the County had been in discussions with Lithium Nevada to ensure there was a minimal impact on flora and fauna. County officials also claimed they felt confident and comfortable with the plan moving forward as the mining operation had considered and planned around their impact on wildlife, specifically in regard to greater sage-grouse habitat. Water and Air Concerns Directly associated with land disturbance and longevity of species in the region are environmental concerns around water quality and usage. To have sufficient water, the project will use high volumes of water from the Quinn River Valley aquifer. Lithium Nevada is also buying water rights in the surrounding area to accommodate the needs of the project (Lithium Americas 2021a). One environmental stakeholder warned that this would impact the water table, potentially limiting the water availability to local farmers and ranchers. The degree of water use is predicated on technical modeling processes. Lithium Nevada reported the mine will use 2,600 acre-feet of water/year for the first four years and 5,200 acre-feet of water/year after four years. The amount equates to 9% of the perennial supply for the Quinn River Valley. For context, irrigation consumes just under 83,000 acre-feet/year in the Quinn River Valley (Lithium Americas 2021b). Lithium Nevada has also stated that their project is designed with significant water recycling technologies to minimize water consumption by using the same water over and over again. Still, some stakeholders have disputed the figures produced by Lithium Nevada. There are also serious concerns related to backfilling the mine with tailings after mining has occurred. Tailings are a by-product of mining, consisting of mineral particles and water. Dry stacking of tailings is used to process and store tailings to reduce impacts on the environment. Two stakeholders expressed concern about the storage plan of dry tailings in Lithium Nevada’s operational plans. Without proper storage of these by-products, the tailings could seep into groundwater resources, posing a risk of arsenic and antimony contamination. Further, the stakeholder noted there was no analysis on the neutralization of the tailings. Without effective treatment, the tailings will still have acid in them and could impact water quality. This is a point of contention where environmental groups have singled out the lack of detailed plans to assess whether or how ground water quality downgradient would be effectively mitigated (Western Watersheds Project v. U.S. Department of the Interior 2021). The EIR indicated groundwater quality could exceed the standards for antimony, arsenic, sulfate, and TDS (BLM 2020; Penn et al. 2021). Thus, there is concern on the effectiveness of the current mitigation plan and a lack of transparency about the details of the plan itself. Additionally, tailings noted above will be treated with sulfuric acid. Due to the scale of the mining operation at Thacker Pass, plans include the building of an on-site sulfuric acid plant. Some stakeholders believed this was a minor issue because Lithium Nevada would be mitigating their impact with new technology, emitting less than 40 tons of SO2 per year, which amounts to 2% of current SO2 emissions from the nearby North Valmy power planted located in Valmy, Nevada (Lithium Americas 2021). Still, because of the extensive amount of sulfuric acid used on site, there are concerns from multiple environmental groups about air and water quality. Regardless of Lithium Nevada’s technology, several stakeholders maintained the constant air Potential Lithium Extraction in the United States: Environmental, Economic, and Policy Implications 61 AUGUST 2022PDF Image | Potential Lithium Extraction in the United States
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