ELR Citation: 53 ELR 20023
No(s). 3:21-cv-00080-MMD-CLB (D. Nev. Feb 6, 2023) (Du, J.)

A district court upheld BLM's approval of a proposed lithium mine project in Nevada. Environmental groups, ranchers, and tribes argued the project would cause unnecessary and undue degradation to the local sage-grouse population and habitat, groundwater aquifers, and air quality in violation of FLPMA; that BLM failed to adequately assess impacts on air quality, wildlife, and groundwater in violation of NEPA; that it failed to adequately consider impacts to the area's contemporary cultural or religious significance to local tribes in violation of NEPA; and unreasonably or in bad faith decided not to consult with the tribes before approving the project, in violation of the National Historic Preservation Act. The court concluded that BLM's approval violated FLPMA as related to the approximately 1,300 acres of land the mining company intends to bury under waste rock, because the Bureau did not first make a mining rights validity determination as to that land; but it otherwise affirmed the approval. It remanded without vacatur for BLM to determine whether the company possesses valid land rights to the waste dump and mine tailings land.