Issue 4: In the Lithium Valley, public engagement remains limited to a few
Since its creation, California's lithium blue-ribbon commission has held 14 meetings to date but struggles to reach the public at large.
Fresh this Week
Demand for Lithium Outpacing Supply
Even if lithium extraction on U.S. soil ramps up in the next several years — as is the plan in California’s Imperial County and Nevada — supply of the essential mineral won’t be enough to meet the burgeoning demand in a future where electric vehicles proliferate in society.
Timothy Burmeister summed up that assessment from experts at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence last week in the Elko Daily Free Press, which adds:
Albemarle’s Silver Peak mine located southwest of Tonopah, Nevada, is the only lithium mine operating in the U.S.
And while Albermale does not release its lithium production numbers to the public, Burmeister writes that “there are reports that Silver Peak produces about 5,000 metric tons of lithium, about one percent of the world’s total.”
Another mining project in Nevada — the Thacker Pass project north of Winnemucca — is “expected to produce about 60,000 tons of lithium a year.”
And even if the annual procurement of 60,000 tons of lithium in the Thacker Pass is combined with the 90,000 tons out of Berkshire Hathaway Energies in Imperial County, supply won’t come close to meeting a global demand for 7 million metric tons of lithium in 2040.
U.S.-Based Lithium Sourcing Gains Support
Speaking of mining for lithium in the U.S., Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, is proposing legislation to “create a $50 million grant program at the Interior Department to fund and support environmentally sound processing of critical minerals.” | Source: The Washington Post
This, of course, follows action from President Joe Biden’s Department of Energy and the California Energy Commission to fund U.S.-based mineral projects in Nevada and California.
California Legislator Behind LVC Seeks Re-Election
California Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia, D-Coachella, is seeking re-election in a bid to continue his work on “issues such as lithium development in the Salton Sea and infrastructure funding in the eastern Coachella Valley that he has been working on.” | Source: The Desert Sun
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Between the Lines
Where Is Public Engagement Happening in the ‘Lithium Valley’?
Since its creation in 2020, the California blue-ribbon Lithium Valley Commission tasked with reviewing critical aspects of lithium recovery in the Imperial Valley has held 14 public meetings to date, all of which are recorded and made available online.
However, public engagement on the various aspects of development of the so-called Lithium Valley remains limited to a few stakeholders.
A review of social media, public documents and media reports shows that informational meetings, tours and gatherings are happening in small, siloed groups, a public engagement approach that the California Energy Commission admits “could be better.”
“The actual body regular meetings, they’re not that accessible. I think we’ll be the first to admit that,” said Lindsay Buckley, director of communications and external affairs at the California Energy Commission (CEC).
Buckley says that public engagement on this issue has mainly rested on the efforts from the 14 individual commissioners who do their own outreach to their own contacts.
Meetings and workshops related to lithium extraction in the Imperial Valley typically include executives for the various private companies operating geothermal plants in the Salton Sea, state agency executives, locally elected officials and a few environmental advocates like Luis Olmedo, Executive Director of Comite Civico del Valle, Inc., who sits on the Lithium Valley Commission.
The commission held only one public engagement meeting in November last year and it is unclear whether more will be offered before it submits its report to the California Energy Commission in October. And that’s not enough, says Eric Reyes, executive director of Los Amigos de la Comunidad, Inc.
“There has been a limited, and I will say very limited, attempt at public engagement considering the vast complexity and incredible socio-economic opportunity our community is on the cusp of achieving,” Reyes told me.
“Many people are not aware, completely. They only get bits and pieces. They’re not having enough of an opportunity to fully engage.”
Reyes attended one tour of an upcoming geothermal plant by Controlled Thermal Resources near Niland this week, which was attended by only a handful of representatives from state agencies.
Partly hampering public outreach efforts is the limited number of media outlets in the Imperial Valley, which include the Calexico Chronicle, the Desert Review, KYMA-TV and the Imperial Valley Press. Buckley acknowledges the limited news resources in the Imperial Valley but says the commission makes an effort to include local media in its announcements.
As a result, public confusion or misunderstanding of lithium recovery in the region persists. Among the inquiries that members of one Facebook Group have made include questions about the effects on air quality, effects on the ground surrounding the Salton Sea, job opportunities, educational opportunities and whether any lithium is currently being recovered right now.
In social media, there is confusion about the process of extracting lithium which some fear will resemble the lithium pit mining process happening in Australia and South America.
Buckley said her team has also noticed such mischaracterization on social media. To combat it, she says her team is preparing a video that will illustrate how the lithium extraction process will be different in the Salton Sea.
When asked whether the commission will hold more public engagement meetings, Buckley said there will be more opportunities once the commission makes its draft report public, which should come later in the summer this year.
“Right now there’s a lot of interest, but there’s not a lot of actionable opportunities,” she said. “There will be a draft report and the public will have an opportunity to participate.”
Movements to Watch
The Lithium Valley Commission will hold its next public meeting on Thursday, March 24 at 1:30 p.m. At this meeting, the commission will discuss the Imperial County Lithium Valley Economic Opportunity Investment Plan as well as other environmental impacts to the region. Read the full agenda here.
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