Endangered status for snail might slow Nev. mine plans
RENO, Nev. — Conservationists are seeking Endangered Species Act protection for a tiny snail half the size of a pea that is known to exist only in high-desert springs near a huge lithium mine planned in Nevada along the Oregon state line.
The Western Watersheds Project filed the listing petition last week with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the Kings River pyrg, a springsnail found in 13 isolated springs around Thacker Pass 200 miles northeast of Reno.
It says the biggest threat to the snail’s survival is disruption of groundwater flows as a result of the 370-foot-deep, open-pit mine that the Bureau of Land Management approved last year and is currently being challenged in U.S. District Court in Reno.
Other threats to the snail’s survival include livestock grazing, road construction and climate change, the petition said.
“Federal land managers put this aquatic snail in the crosshairs of extinction by hastily approving large-scale lithium mining at Thacker Pass,” said Erik Molvar, executive director of the Idaho-based group.
Ramped-up domestic production of lithium, a critical element for electric vehicle batteries, is key to President Joe Biden’s plan for a greener future. Worldwide demand for lithium is projected to increase sixfold by 2030.
Molvar, a wildlife biologist, agrees the nation must “transition from the dirty fossil fuels that are responsible for climate change” but not by mining in sensitive habitats.
“We have a responsibility as a society to avoid wreaking ecological havoc as we shift to renewable technologies,” he said.
The snail’s shell is less than .08 inch tall, according to the petition, which notes by comparison a U.S. nickel coin is .07 inch thick.
Groundwater pumping associated with the mine will reduce or eliminate flows to the springs that support the snails, it says.
The lawsuit challenging Lithium Americas’ project was filed by a Nevada rancher Feb. 11, 2021 and later joined by area tribes and conservation groups. It alleged the mining would violate federal protections of numerous species, including threatened Lahontan cutthroat trout and imperiled sage grouse.
Lithium Americas and the Bureau of Land Management maintain none of the springs would suffer impacts affecting the snails — and that claims to the contrary were based on a misapplication of groundwater models, submitted after the government’s environmental review was completed.
“Lithium Nevada has done extensive work to design a project that avoids impacts to the springs, which are more than a mile away from the facility site,” said Tim Crowley, a Reno spokesman for the Canada-based Lithium Americas.
“Our project is purposely located to not effect local springs and is based on years of data collection, rigorous environmental impact studies, regulatory and public review, engagement with stakeholders, and final approval by the federal authorities,” he said.