An effort by a coalition of conservationists and tribal leaders to block the construction of a lithium mine along the Nevada-Oregon border was denied by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on July 17.
In its decision Monday (pdf), a three-panel judge of the San Francisco-based appellate ruled that the U.S. government did not violate federal environmental laws when it approved the Thacker Pass lithium mine project.
Opponents of the project had been attempting to appeal the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s earlier decision, arguing that the massive project will destroy sacred tribal lands and violate multiple environmental laws….