Nevada rancher sues to block lithium mine near Oregon line
By SCOTT SONNER
Associated Press
RENO, Nev. (AP) — A longtime Nevada rancher is suing U.S. regulators over the approval of a lithium mine on federal rangeland he says would violate environmental laws and undermine changes he has made in his own livestock grazing practices to help threatened fish and wildlife.
Edward Bartell and Bartell Ranch LLC say the Bureau of Land Management relied “entirely upon flawed and error-laden findings” in environmental assessments prepared by the mine’s own contractor.
Bartell maintains the review masks the real effects that he says would lower the groundwater table, harm the federally protected Lahontan cutthroat trout and imperiled greater sage grouse and “transform much of our private lands into barren desert.”