US backs rare flower habitat amid Nevada lithium mine fight [View all]

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

US backs rare flower habitat amid Nevada lithium mine fight

By SCOTT SONNER
February 4, 2022

RENO, Nev. (AP) — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed designating critical habitat for a Nevada wildflower it plans to list as endangered amid a conflict over a mine to produce lithium batteries for electric vehicles critical to the Biden administration’s plans to combat climate change.

The agency on Wednesday proposed designating critical habitat for Tiehm’s buckwheat on a high-desert ridge near the California line halfway between Reno and Las Vegas.

It’s the only place in the world the delicate, 6-inch-tall (15-centimeter) wildflower with yellow blooms is known to exist.

It’s also the site where Ioneer USA Corp. plans to build a big lithium mine.

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The Australian-based company noted that mining is allowed within areas designated as critical habitat if approved by the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/science-technology-business-flowers-wildlife-8ac608ad3c485760fa1d8c0dd12c2ed7


In this photo taken June 1, 2019, by Patrick Donnelly of the Center for Biological Diversity is the rare desert wildflower Tiehm's buckwheat in the Silver Peak Range about 120 miles south of Reno, Nev. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed designating the high-desert range halfway between Reno and Las Vegas as critical habitat for the Tiehm's buckwheat. It is also the site of a proposed lithium mine by the Australian-based Ioneer USA Corp. (Patrick Donnelly/Center for Biological Diversity via AP)