Judge hears fight over lithium mine on Nevada-Oregon line

RENO, Nev. (AP) — A judge considering legal challenges to government approval of a Nevada mine at the largest known U.S. deposit of lithium said Wednesday she’ll decide by the end of the month whether to grant the conservationists’ bid for a temporary ban on any digging at the site because of potential harm to sage grouse and other wildlife.

U.S. District Judge Miranda Du also agreed to an expedited review of a new request from a Nevada tribe to join the legal battle and seek a similar restraining order based on its claim the mine would disturb sacred burial grounds near the Nevada-Oregon line.

Overshadowed by conflict at a lithium mine planned north of Las Vegas where the government intends to declare a rare wildflower threatened or endangered, Lithium Nevada Corp.’s proposed Thacker Pass mine is emerging as a potentially bigger battleground in the debate over environmental trade-offs tied to President Joe Biden’s push for renewable energy.

Lithium is a key component in electric vehicle batteries.

Lawyers for the mine, the Bureau of Land Management and four conservation groups argued their cases before Du in Reno on Wednesday as protesters rallied outside. The critics say the federal agency violated several environmental laws in a December rush to approve the mine in the final days of the Trump administration.

Lawyers for the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony and Western Watersheds Project said in a joint motion filed late Tuesday that the agency also is violating the National Historic Preservation Act by failing to consult with tribal members about plans to dig trenches to gather data for a cultural mitigation plan at the site where Native Americans were slaughtered in the late 1800s.

“If the BLM and Lithium Nevada prevail, a massive open pit mine will be constructed on a...