Rare Nevada Flower Complicates Lithium Project

credit: Center for Biological Diversity

The US Fish and Wildlife Service proposed critical habitat for Tiehm's buckwheat, an endangered wildflower that lives in only one known place in Nevada.  The high desert ridge near the California line also happens to be the place an Australian company, Ioneer USA Corp. has chosen to site its lithium mine. The rare earth mineral plays a large role in electric vehicle batteries, which are a key part of the administration's plans to fight climate change. The company said the proposed designation was expected and does not impact their plans. The company noted that mining is allowed within designated critical habitat if approved by the Service and BLM.

Demand for lithium is expected to double by 2025. Most of it comes from Australia and South America.  China also has large deposits. The plant is scheduled to be officially declared endangered in September in alignment with a court order. That designation triggers a regulatory obligation to consult with the USFWS before any development that could impact the plant's survival is undertaken.  Fewer than 30,000 plants are thought to exist on ten acres near Tonopah, Nevada. The proposed critical habitat designation is about 910 acres, enough to provide a buffer zone and allow access by pollinators. Conservationists wanted a buffer three times larger. "Ioneeer's plan to coexist with the plant includes transplantation and planting more plants with seeds harvested from greenhouses. nservationists are skeptical that the plan will work. "[The company's]plans to destroy much of the plant’s habitat and establish it somewhere else are highly unlikely to comport with a critical habitat designation, since the rule recognizes that these areas are essential for the species,” said Patrick Donnelly, the Center for Biological Diversity’s Nevada director. The agency said soil studies show a "unique envelope of soil conditions" on which the plant thrives, that do not exist elsewhere.