A nice opportunity for some good old philosophy. Which is the greater evil? Strip mining for lithium? Or continued use of fossil fuels?
I'm a tree hugger. Spent a decade volunteering for an org trying to save endangered salmon. Been trying protect wolves off and on these last few years.
Honestly, this feels more NIMBY than treehugger.
BLM, Fish & Wildlife Service, the mining industry, and so many others, are responsible for SO MUCH damage. Thacker Pass seems rather immaterial by comparison.
And if not Thacker Pass, then where? Are there other, better, less impactful sources?
Skim reading http://protectthackerpass.org/, it's light on policy. Nothing about ground water, aquifers, runoff, etc. As with all mining, those are at the top of my list. I'm against kink shaming, so the rhetoric about de-industrialize and mother earth doesn't bother me. My criticism is they're not practical, pragmatic.
An endangered snail, a rare flower. Ya, they must be protected. Totally feasible, right? Just contain the mining operation, with active enforcement.
The treehugger program I'd support:
- Actively minimize impact. Loop in the locals to actively monitor and protect habitat. Tribes, hikers, birders, state equiv to EPA. (This is Nevada, so, ya, state govt and mining industry are one and the same.)
- "You broke it, you bought it." Require Lithium America to restore habitat when they're done. Set up some kind of bond, independent trust, or equiv, fully funded by Lithium America, to not be administered by Lithium America. Once the mine is shut down, restore the land. As though the mining never happened.
- And I'd probably also require Lithium America to do some kind of mitigation or offset. Ongoing. Surely there's some local habitat that needs some love and resources. It's Humboldt County, just throw a rock. Require all these corporations to help repair and repent for past sins.
I'm a tree hugger. Spent a decade volunteering for an org trying to save endangered salmon. Been trying protect wolves off and on these last few years.
Honestly, this feels more NIMBY than treehugger.
BLM, Fish & Wildlife Service, the mining industry, and so many others, are responsible for SO MUCH damage. Thacker Pass seems rather immaterial by comparison.
And if not Thacker Pass, then where? Are there other, better, less impactful sources?
Skim reading http://protectthackerpass.org/, it's light on policy. Nothing about ground water, aquifers, runoff, etc. As with all mining, those are at the top of my list. I'm against kink shaming, so the rhetoric about de-industrialize and mother earth doesn't bother me. My criticism is they're not practical, pragmatic.
An endangered snail, a rare flower. Ya, they must be protected. Totally feasible, right? Just contain the mining operation, with active enforcement.
The treehugger program I'd support:
- Actively minimize impact. Loop in the locals to actively monitor and protect habitat. Tribes, hikers, birders, state equiv to EPA. (This is Nevada, so, ya, state govt and mining industry are one and the same.)
- "You broke it, you bought it." Require Lithium America to restore habitat when they're done. Set up some kind of bond, independent trust, or equiv, fully funded by Lithium America, to not be administered by Lithium America. Once the mine is shut down, restore the land. As though the mining never happened.
- And I'd probably also require Lithium America to do some kind of mitigation or offset. Ongoing. Surely there's some local habitat that needs some love and resources. It's Humboldt County, just throw a rock. Require all these corporations to help repair and repent for past sins.