The Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at Arizona State...

The Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at Arizona State University [a few miles from the Lithium Research Palace] launched a comprehensive, national investigation of the impact the proposed new lithium mines predicted they will have on U.S. water supplies. Reporters reviewed tens of thousands of pages of state and federal environmental impact statements and mining operation reports filed by companies involved in every proposed lithium project in the U.S. that sought permits or reached the physical exploration phase by the end of December 2023.

Among the investigation's key findings:

• There are no federal rules governing how much water any type of mine can consume.
• America's only operating commercial lithium mine is responsible for drying up nearby monitoring wells, according to reports from Nevada's largest water authority.
• The vast majority of proposed lithium projects responding to calls for increased supplies of domestic lithium are, in fact, owned by foreign companies or their subsidiaries.
• The majority of proposed lithium projects in the U.S. intend to take water from already stressed sources like the Colorado River or strained groundwater systems.
• Federal authority to stop mines from extracting minerals, even from public land, is weak. The Department of the Interior, in more than 20 years, has not rejected a mining permit due to the harm a mine could cause.
• The federal government approved plans for a future lithium mine, even after its operators disclosed it would create 272 million metric tons of 'tailings' containing toxic waste.

https://cronkitenews.azpbs.org/howardcenter/lithium/stories/lithium-liabilities.html