(The Center Square) - Nicknamed the Silver State, Nevada has resource-rich mountains, deserts and people who are no stranger to the mining industry.
As Nevada prepares for another mining boom via lithium, groups have expressed concern about its potential damage. In the lesser-known Amargosa River Basin of Death Valley, the Indigenous Timbisha Shoshone Tribe is bringing the Bureau of Land Management to court over zeolite mining, with fears it could severely threaten their limited water supply. The lawsuit, which involves an area on the California side of the Nevada border, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central California.
“The question has always been, 'What does meaningful consultation look like?' ” Amargosa Conservancy Executive Director Mason Voehl told The Center Square.
Voehl and the Amargosa Conservancy are partnered with the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe in a federal lawsuit over mining exploration in the area. Their argument against the BLM and its Principal Deputy Director Bill Groffy is that they side-stepped the Endangered Species Act and did not meaningfully consult with the tribe over the site.
The issue of tribal consultation, Voehl said, is a touchy subject. “Oftentimes we'll see agencies do as little as maybe sending a letter or a few emails with details about a project, and they'll consider that consultation."
Voehl said the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe had been contacted by the BLM. But he added, “There were things that the tribe had asked for more of the full details on.”
The Timbisha Shoshone Tribe did not respond to a request by The Center Square in time for this story.
The mining exploration the lawsuit seeks to halt is being undertaken by the St. Cloud Mining company in search of zeolites, a widely applicable set of materials used in anything from wastewater treatment to medicine. Voehl said the conservancy had unsuccessfully tried to contact St. Cloud Mining.
The exploratory drilling is only a few miles from Nevada’s Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge and just over the California border.
The lawsuit seeks to force the BLM to do more meaningful consultations, especially as it relates to the Endangered Species Act.
“The connection our people share with the Amargosa River and its abundant plant and wildlife communities is older than time,” Mandi Campbell, the Timbisha Shoshone tribal historic preservation officer, said in a press release. “We have stood tall in the face of mining threats in these lands before, and we're doing it again. We will never back down in defense of our sacred places and homelands.”
The argument specifies three rare plants that the tribe said would be threatened by the mining exploration.
The Amargosa River originates from groundwater, never reaching the ocean and instead ends in springs and wetlands in the desert. As an entirely contained river system, the wildlife is often unique to the area and offers a rare oasis from the surrounding desert. Voehl said it has been called the Galapagos of the desert.
“This is one of the hottest and driest places on the planet,” said Voehl. “And so, of course, wherever you find water, you find life.”
While the lawsuit centers around enforcing a more strict environmental review, its proponents are also concerned about mining exploration’s potential impact on the water supply.
For the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe whose reservation lands are largely within Desert Valley, the Amargosa River also represents a rare source of water. Mining, even just for explorative purposes, could threaten the water in a number of ways, tribal members claim.
Their primary fear would be that the drills, boring down to 200 feet through the ground, would puncture underwater springs feeding the river and damage the flow by removing pressure. This could cause “catastrophic cascading effects,” Voehl said, with nearby Tecopa, Calif., suffering a similar event decades ago that the area still deals with.
The lawsuit has yet to see its court date. Voehl said the case could take months or longer.
The BLM did not respond to a request for comment by The Center Square.
Voehl said this lawsuit solely seeks to cease St. Cloud Mining’s exploration. But in the face of a regional mining boom, he also argued that people were fighting for a future focused on ecotourism.
“You can actually build an economy around that in a way that mining can't, because of the boom and bust nature of the [mining] business,” he said. “I think we've actually seen a pretty remarkable turn… And a recognition that there's got to be places that are too special to risk – no matter what the mineral or prospects of a single mine might be.”
