Lithium is the key metal for electric vehicle and energy storage batteries. Viewed as a way to strengthen U.S. energy independence, there has been a growing rush for lithium across the country. By 2030, at least six new mining projects are projected to be underway and another 13 will soon follow, mostly in the Southwest. There are more than 100 U.S. projects to which companies have staked claims. Worldwide, there are over 500 proposed lithium mines as the need for batteries skyrockets.
According to a recent study, socially and economically vulnerable communities are bearing the brunt of the lithium boom. Nearly two-thirds of lithium projects are located in vulnerable counties: tribal lands and places where people in poverty and people of color disproportionately live.
Indigenous communities are especially affected: roughly one in ten proposed mines sits within 10 miles of a tribal reservation even though reservations comprise only 2% of U.S. land overall.
The Bureau of Land Management under the Trump Administration has been fast-tracking permitting of lithium mining projects. The administration has even taken the unprecedented step of buying shares in lithium mines to guarantee federal loans.
The current situation harkens back to the 19th century when numerous treaties and military actions plundered native American lands across the country. Places like the Black Hills of South Dakota, once seized for gold mining, are now sought for their lithium.
History has a tendency to repeat itself. Once again, Native Americans are getting caught up in another mineral’s development for what is called “the greater good.”
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References:
How the Rush to Mine the Metal of the Future Echoes America’s Colonial Past
