On Thursday, Bartell Ranch LLC and its owner Edward Bartell filed a complaint in the District of Nevada against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and its Winnemucca District Manager over the decision to approve the Thacker Pass Lithium Mine Project. The complaint reported that the “disturbance area” for the large open pit mine would be over 5,000 acres and the project area would cover 17,000 acres of BLM land.
The plaintiff is a Nevada company with private land in the area. According to the complaint, Bartell Ranch has a federal grazing permit and water rights that “are imminently threatened with irreparable harm” through the construction and operation of the mine. The plaintiff also purported that the mine causes a threat to fish, wildlife, and habitats in the area, specifically the habitat of the endangered Lahontan Cutthroat Trout and Greater Sage Grouse.
The BLM district manager, Ester McCullough, approved the mine on January 15, 2021. The plaintiffs purported that the Final Environmental Impact Statement, which was prepared by consultants hired by the Lithium Nevada Corporation, presented “a one-sided, deeply-flawed, and incomplete analysis and characterization of the proposed project and its likely adverse environmental impacts.”
The lithium mine is planned to be built on BLM land in Humboldt County, Nevada, near Orovada. According to the complaint, this is a “highly sensitive ecological area,” which is typically dry and contains limited water resources. The mine will take groundwater reserves to use in its operations and will contain an open pit that “will draw down water tables” in addition to depositing contaminated substances into the environment.
“It is well-established within the academy of hydrological science, as well as within Ninth Circuit case law, that excessive groundwater pumping in an already-overallocated basin is inextricably linked to reductions in streamflows within the hydrological nexus,” the complaint explained.
The plaintiffs asked the court to declare that the Environmental Impact Statement and McCullough’s decision to approve the Lithium Mine violated federal law and “reverse, set aside, vacate, and remand” the documents. They further asked for injunctive relief and the costs of litigation.
Bartell Ranch is represented by O. Kent Maher and Carollo Law Group LLC.
