Issue 20: A California draft report on lithium misses its deadline
A blue-ribbon commission tasked with studying the impacts of lithium in the Imperial Valley has delayed the release of its draft report.
Fresh this Week
Lithium’s Toxic Risk to the Air Drives Out Lilac
Last month, a Forbes article on the challenges facing lithium extraction in the Imperial Valley surfaced alarming new information about the risk to the environment in the region.
Oakland-based Lilac Solutions told Forbes that it was pulling out of the Lithium Valley, citing risks from toxic elements in the Salton Sea geothermal brine that might make their way into the air during the extraction process.
“There are challenges related to the very high temperature and the materials, including toxic materials, that are dissolved into it,” David Snydacker, Lilac’s founder and CEO, told Forbes.
Lilac had developed an ion-exchange technology to separate lithium from superheated brines and was working with Controlled Thermal Resources to extract lithium from the Salton Sea geothermal brines. Now, Lilac says this brine is too difficult to handle and is taking its technology elsewhere.
It’s unclear what technology CTR will now use to extract lithium from the Salton Sea geothermal brine. The company has not yet responded to requests for comment.
Lithium Extraction Technologies in Play
It might be a few years before the highly promising lithium extraction technology that EnergySource Minerals has developed might prove its commercial efficiency in the Salton Sea. But that isn’t stopping the San Diego-based company from making money from it right now.
EnergySource this week said it was licensing its direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology named ILiAD to another mining company putting it to use in the Great Salt Lake in Utah. The company, Compass Minerals, told Reuters that it had spent more than two year studying EnergySource’s DLE technology and said it could produce 10,000 tons of lithium in Utah annually by 2025.
It’s not yet publicly known how much Compass Minerals paid EnergySource to license the tech, but Compass said it would spend about $200 million in the “first phase of the company’s sustainable lithium development project.”
To date, neither EnergySource or any other company has done any commercial-level extraction of lithium from the Salton Sea geothermal brines found several thousand feet underground. EnergySource says it anticipates being the first to do it by 2024.
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Between the Lines
Where Is the Draft Report, Lithium Valley Commission?
Many questions remain about the impacts that lithium extraction will have on the environmental health of the Imperial Valley and the Salton Sea. And one key report that may answer those questions remains to be seen.
The Lithium Valley Commission — California’s blue-ribbon commission created to study the impacts of lithium in the southern region — has delayed the release of its findings despite having an October 1 deadline to submit it to the state’s legislature.
Requests to the commission’s chair, Silvia Paz, for comment have gone unanswered. But the California Energy Commission, which is aiding the work of the 14-member commission, says an “unanticipated state of emergency prompted by the extended extreme heat wave even in California” has strained the resources it needs to coordinate the release of a draft report.
“The Draft AB 1657 Report of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Lithium Extraction will be released as soon as possible,” said Deana Carrillo, a deputy director of the CEC’s Renewable Energy Division.
In previous meetings, CEC officials have said it will provide 30 days for the public to comment on the draft report of the commission’s findings. That sets the final report’s October 1 deadline back even more.
Additionally, Carrillo says the commission will also offer a Spanish version of the draft report for public comment some 15 or 16 days after the English version is made available.
“Once the Spanish version of the report is available, a 30-day review period for both versions will be provided,” she adds.
Other members of the Lithium Valley Commission say even they have not seen the draft report themselves. It’s unclear what specific environmental questions the draft report will answer, but environmental groups and Indian tribes are publicly calling on the commission to address water concerns as well as potential toxic impacts.
“I'm very concerned about the ‘expansion’ of this project and what that may entail for this has never been done to this large scale,” wrote Chase Choate, Quechan Tribe Environmental Director, in a letter to the commission.
“What could an earthquake do to this project? Could it cause a leak in hydrochloric acid?” Choate asked the commission, among other questions.
Two local environmental activists similarly published their concerns in an op-ed in the Desert Sun and the Calexico Chronicle in recent weeks, saying the Imperial Valley should not be used as a testbed for unproven technology.
“We refuse to be experimental zones for climate change programs that have unproven benefits and unknown environmental impacts, such as lithium extraction,” Cecilia Dora Armenta and Elizabeth Jaime wrote. “ The lives of immigrants, children, and low-income people of color are worth more than the profits of lithium extraction.”
One environmental group, the Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, has also been an active watchdog of the commission’s work. In a letter to the commission, the group is calling for the draft report to extend its 30-day public comment period to 45 days.
“As has been repeatedly stated by local voices, this extraction process is very new and there continues to be a number of questions as to what this looks like and what it means for the environment and public health in the Salton Sea region, to date, the community continues to feel like they have not been successfully engaged or informed,” the group said in a statement to Lithium Valle.
“The ongoing delay of the release of the LVC report continues to highlight the poor commitment to ensuring a transparent and engaging public process,” the group added.
The commission has held public meetings at least once a month since its inception at the beginning of 2021. In November, the commission held its first and only public engagement forum.
Since then, several environmental activists have criticized the commission for its lack of transparency and willingness to engage more residents of the Imperial Valley.
At its inception, the commission has been directed to review, investigate, and analyze opportunities and benefits for lithium recovery and use in the state. Once it submits its final report to the state’s legislature, Paz says the commission will continue to exist up until October 2023.
What other role it will take after it accomplishes its mission is unclear.
Movements to Watch
The Lithium Valley Commission will hold its next meeting on Thursday, Sept. 29, at the Westmorland Union Elementary School in Westmorland, CA, and remotely via Zoom.
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