One of the most-anticipated DEQ decisions for 2022 involves a...

One of the most-anticipated DEQ decisions for 2022 involves a proposed behemoth lithium mine near Cherryville, in Gaston County. At a public hearing in November, hundreds of residents turned out to oppose the 1,500-acre mine, fearing contamination of the groundwater and private drinking water wells.Piedmont Lithium, the company behind the mine, has contracted with Tesla to provide the essential element for electric car batteries. Unlike vehicles that run on fossil fuels, electric cars don’t emit pollutants from their tailpipes — pollutants that contribute to climate chang e.However, extractive industries, like mining, still exact an environmental toll. New technologies could provide companies with less damaging ways to get at the lithium, but miners must learn from their coal and petroleum counterparts, whose practices — mountaintop removal, oil spills — have destroyed neighborhoods and shorelines, harmed public health and decimated ecosystems.DEQ is expected to announce its decision before spring; Gaston County officials, though, will likely weigh in. And opponents can still delay the permit via the courts.

PFAS, climate change, mining and hazardous waste: 2022 will be another critical year for the environment in North Carolina