Salton Sea has a lithium treasure. Who can be at risk and who benefits?

From Deborah BrennanCalmness

This story was originally published by CalmattersS Register about their ballots.

The critics of the proposed Mina Lithium near Salton Sea have entered the second round of their fight to force a tougher ecological review of the project.

This is the latest stage in legal impasse over the massive lithium project. Environmental groups are trying to make sure that residents nearby receive the benefits of producing lithium while protecting against harmful effects. The company claims that critics use legal challenges to stop an important energy project.

The non -profit organizations Comite Civico Del Valle and Earthworks filed arguments to the fourth Court of Appeal last week, asking the court to review a claim that filed in 2024, which a The Judge of the Supreme Court rejected Earlier this year.

Read more >>> Geologically rich but economically poor, Salton Sea Communities want the word in their lithium future

In their complaint filed on September 11, the groups claim that the environmental impact report on Mine Lithium Mine neglects potential problems with air quality, use of water, dangerous materials and tribal cultural resources.

“The project would create high -water demand in a dry desert environment where Salton SEA dries worsen the severe effects on air pollution,” the short said.

Lauren Rose, a spokesman for controlled thermal resources, the mother of Hell’s Kitchen, condemned what she called “a frivolous legal appeal.”

“The current actions of this group are clear abuse of the initial intentions of the (California Environmental Law) and serve only to slow down the progress of clean energy projects that are essential to the Community, California and the nation,” she said in a statement to CalMatters.

The hellish kitchen promises to detect thousands of lithium, mineral, essential for electric car batteries, mobile phones and other electronics. Officials with non -profit organizations say they are in favor of the production of lithium, but they want to ensure that this does not compromise the health and environment of the surrounding communities.

“We are making the case that the project must be adjusted to meet the standards that protect our community and our environment,” said Luis Olmedo, CEO of Comite Civico del Valle, before Calmatters. “The lawsuit is not related to stopping clean energy. We are for clean energy.”

The groups also released a report summarizing their call for increased impact control. And they have set out requests that include the creation of a joint authority for the Lithium Valley powers with a local consultative committee, the separation of more than the excise tax of lithium for the state of the state, close to the project, and acquire an additional fee for mitigating the environment on lithium produced there.

According to the existing formula, Bombay Beach, a small neighborhood of Salton Sea near the project, will receive $ 8,631 to compensate for the impact of the project, while larger areas such as El Centro, Calexico and Imperial will receive six-digit payments.

Read more >>> The smell of a rotten egg in the sea in Salton is not just an inconvenience. This can make people sick.

Barry Bean, Deputy Executive Director of Natural Resources for Imperial County, said in a statement to Calmatters that the lithium tax formula is “a practical and balanced frame that considers both the size of the population and the geographical proximity to the lithium resource.”

Bean said the joint authority for powers will duplicate existing community introduction systems. Imperial County would not support additional lithium fees, she said, as California already has a tougher environmental protection than other states, “makes development in California more challenging and often less competitive.”

State and federal officials have predicted that the area around the sea in Salton, which are called Lithium Valley, can become one of the largest sources of “white gold”, releasing the US from dependence on other countries to the critical mineral.

Imperial County’s supervisor Ryan E. Kelly said the project would progress both in regional economic growth and US energy goals.

“This initiative will position the Imperial County as a leader in clean energy, contribute to the purposes of California’s resistance and enhance the critical chain of mineral supplies of the United States,” Kelly told Calmatters.

Rose, however, said the ongoing judicial challenge had stopped this momentum and was at risking the production of lithium in California.

“Just a few years ago, the Imperial County led the pure energy fee and the sustainable development of critical minerals in the United States,” she said. “Now billions of investment dollars were flocking to other states, including Nevada, Utah, Texas and Arkansas, leaving California in the dust.”

Olmedo said his group had never called for orders against the project, but asked for precautions for its operations.

Hell’s Kitchen will extract lithium and other critical minerals from the super-heated brine in a aquifer in Salton and then cross the brine in the ground, in what the company calls a closed system that is cleaner than other lithium extraction systems.

Cal Polly Pomona James Blair, Comite del Civico Advisor and a member of the Imperial County Lithium Valley Academic Working Group, said the environmental review did not prove this claim.

Blair said that the direct extraction of lithium was framed as “a cleaner, more green method of extracting lithium than open lakes or salad reservoirs”, but studies on such systems show that they use very fresh water. If this is the case in Hell’s Kitchen, this may worsen the decline of the shrinking Salton Sea.

“New technologies have unknown results,” Blair said. “We don’t really know how much water is needed.”

This article was Originally Published on CalMatters and was reissued under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Noderivatives License.