Issue 18: In the Lithium Valley, social media is a main source of information for residents

A new survey offers insights into the issues most critical to residents directly impacted by the emerging lithium industry and their distrust of local government.

Jul 22, 2022

Fresh this Week

People Want to Learn the Basics of Lithium

A new survey of Imperial Valley residents found that 55% of respondents said they get their information about lithium-related issues mainly on social media. Some 41% said news sources were a second source and 38% said personal research was the third top source.

The survey, done by the nonprofit Imperial Valley Equity and Justice Coalition, is the first effort of its kind to assess the priorities most important to locals directly impacted by the emerging lithium industry.

While some 130 residents in the Imperial Valley participated, the survey offers a snapshot of public opinion many months after local leaders and industry executives have held meetings and workshops on the topic of lithium. Almost 50% of respondents were between the ages of 19 and 28.

Other takeaways from the survey results, which can be viewed online, include:

When it comes to communication, residents want to be addressed directly in a public setting so as to engage and ask questions.
Residents would like to know more about the lithium extraction process, its environmental effects and background on how the state’s lithium production tax recently came to be.
Residents expressed a distrust in all forms of governments and the need for oversight committees.
Residents question the tax allocations set by Imperial County leaders and they fear there is a lack of oversight in distributing those funds.

Daniela Flores, a lead community organizer for the nonprofit, tells me that the survey produced a wide range of responses that may lead to follow-up surveys in the near future.

Want to join the discussion on developments of the Lithium Valley? Join the Facebook Group and subscribe to this newsletter for a fresh batch of news every Friday.

BHE Renewables Seeks Funding for Lithium Demonstration Project

Warren Buffet’s BHE Renewables, which is one of the three companies seeking to extract lithium in the Imperial Valley, has applied for a federal grant to help move its endeavors forward.

News of the company’s grant request came up this week when the Imperial County Board of Supervisors approved a letter to Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, endorsing BHE Renewables’ appeal for federal funding, the Calexico Chronicle reported.

Specifically, the company is tapping into the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law-Battery Materials Processing and Battery Manufacturing Funding Opportunity — a source of federal funding designed to help boost the domestic supply chain of minerals critical to electric vehicles.
The funding would help the company create a one-tenth commercial scale plant to process lithium chloride and convert it into battery-grade lithium carbonate.
The company believes this demonstration plant will prove its technology can be brought up to commercial scale, which is the ultimate goal for this and two other companies extracting lithium near the Salton Sea.
The grant request is significantly noteworthy given that the company is usually quiet about its lithium endeavors; it currently operates 10 geothermal plants near the Salton Sea to generate electricity.
And it’s also noteworthy given that it is the first major development since it lended its support for a lithium production tax passed into law in California late last month.

IID Wants In on State’s Lithium Tax Study

Board members of the Imperial Irrigation District this week said they want to be included in a California’s study analyzing the impacts of a lithium production tax it passed into law last month.

The board’s previous discussion on the state’s lithium tax became acrimonious and resulted in a deadlocked vote to support the legislation.

But because the lithium tax legislation requires a study of its fiscal impacts by the end of 2023, those IID board members most opposed to it expressed interest in seeing a report.

At its Tuesday meeting, the board directed the agency’s general manager to send a letter to the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration requesting to be kept in the loop.

Though the IID has a principal domain over water distribution and some energy distribution, its interest in lithium rests on the patch of land it sold to Controlled Thermal Resources where the private company plans to build a geothermal and lithium extraction plant.