SOUTH ROYALTON, Vermont (January 16, 2025)—On October 21, the Environmental Justice Clinic (EJC) at Vermont Law and Graduate School filed comments on the Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project Final Environmental Impact Statement on behalf of the Bishop Paiute Tribe. The Bishop Paiute Tribe is a federally recognized Tribe and one of the largest tribes in the state of California. The Tribe’s reservation is 875 acres and located at the base of the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains. The Tribe’s ancestral territories extend throughout California and Nevada, including the site of the proposed Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project.
The Tribe’s comments focused on the potential impacts to environmental, biological and cultural resources, water resources, the local economy, including housing, and the lack of adequate government-to-government tribal consultation.
The Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project is a proposed lithium-boron mine bolstered by the Biden Administration’s critical mineral policy. The mining company, Ioneer, received a conditional award from the Department of Energy for $700 million to build a domestic supply for electric vehicle battery components. The project has been fast-tracked, with the DEIS coming out in April 2024, and the FEIS in September 2024. BLM issued a Record of Decision, green-lighting the project on October 23, 2024.
“While lithium is necessary for the development of renewable energy, a just transition demands the federal government honor its trust responsibility to Tribal Nations. It is critical that agencies such as the BLM properly consult with Tribes throughout the full life cycle of a proposed project,” commented EJC Director Mia Montoya Hammersley.
VLGS student attorneys Savannah Collins and Hadley Chance, supervised by EJC Director Mia Montoya Hammersley and EJC Fellow Callum LaFrance, drafted comments on behalf of the Tribe on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement and the Final Environmental Impact Statement.
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