Posted on 02/05/2022 2:26:28 AM PST by Libloather
RENO, Nev. (AP) - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed designating critical habitat for a Nevada wildflower it plans to list as endangered amid a conflict over a mine to produce lithium batteries for electric vehicles critical to the Biden administration’s plans to combat climate change.
The agency on Wednesday proposed designating critical habitat for Tiehm’s buckwheat on a high-desert ridge near the California line halfway between Reno and Las Vegas.
It’s the only place in the world the delicate, 6-inch-tall (15-centimeter) wildflower with yellow blooms is known to exist.
It’s also the site where Ioneer USA Corp. plans to build a big lithium mine.
Ioneer said the proposed designation was “an anticipated development” that “has no material impacts on our planned mining activities.”
The Australian-based company noted that mining is allowed within areas designated as critical habitat if approved by the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management.
**SNIP**
It said Ioneer plans to avoid and fence off half of the eight separate places within the 10-acre (4-hectare) site where the flowers grow and “remove and salvage all remaining plants ... and translocate them to another location.”
But the agency said soil studies and results of greenhouse experiments show there’s a “unique envelope of soil conditions in which Tiehm’s buckwheat thrives that is different from adjacent unoccupied soils.”
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
Babylon Bee?
Can’t mess with this plant. It’s the preferred food of snail darters.
EPA studies show 4 out of 5 snail darters order this one using doordash.
If it’s an Aufulstralian company then they can go eat a kangaroo nut. Save these resources for US.
Why is an Australian company mining American lithium?
The unique soil is an absurdity. Look at a damn soil map and I’m sure you’ll find other patches with the exact same chem qualitites....and not far away.
Too bad. You’ll ride a bicycle like a Chinese coolie and like it.
Oh well, we can always get lithium from China.
Typical. Demand we go to electric cars and prevent mining the minerals necessary for electric cars. We also gave away our access to rare earths when we fled from Afghanistan and gave away much of our domestic assets necessary for chips and batteries and such. Poverty for the People seems to be the goal here.
Because Biden, or rather his polithuro, couldn't interest the Chinese?
Winner.
Biden. China.
Xidung needs to negotiate for a bigger cut. Ten percent isn’t enough considering how much more power and influence he has now.
Probably because china told them to.
Fish n wildlife is packed with more commies than red Square is imho.
the ones who did the surveys need to take a polygraph under sodium penothal and questioned about their survey methods and places they looked , or didn’t look , for other areas for the soil and existence of this flower.
Check their math too.
They just want the lithium to be bought from CCP imho.
The mineing company needs to hire a private firm to do a confirming survey .
I’ll bet you money there is no endangerment and their ‘ surveys’ are crap.
Globalism and because we haven’t kicked out Australia’s companies like we should have because of how they are treating their citizens.
Your new EV just got a little bit more expensive.
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Likely the dust and fumes from the mining operations will settle on the remaining flowers, changing the soil composition and killing them.
The more expensive the EV, the better.
We also gave away our access to rare earths when
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Bill Clinton did that in the 90s when he closed down the major US rare earth mine and turned it into a National Preserve.
No one is going to mine that mineral in Afghan for a real long time - no trained labor, tribal Afghanis in the area can’t count or tell left from right, and depart for days or more right after they get paid
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