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By Scott Sonner

The Associated Press

RENO, Nev. 鈥� Conservationists and an advocacy group for Native Americans are suing the U.S. to try to block construction of a Nevada lithium mine they say will drive an endangered desert wildflower to extinction, disrupt groundwater flows and threaten cultural resources.

The Center for Biological Diversity promised the court battle last month when the聽U.S. Interior Department approved聽Ioneer Ltd.鈥檚 Rhyolite Ridge lithium-boron mine at the only place Tiehm’s buckwheat is known to exist in the world, near the California line halfway between Reno and Las Vegas.

It is the latest in a series of legal fights over projects President Joe Biden鈥檚 administration is pushing under his聽clean energy agenda聽intended to cut reliance on fossil fuels, in part by increasing the production of lithium to make electric vehicle batteries and solar panels.

The new lawsuit says the聽Interior Department鈥檚 approval of the mine聽marks a dramatic about-face by聽U.S wildlife experts who warned聽nearly two years ago that Tiehm鈥檚 buckwheat was 鈥渋n danger of extinction now鈥� when they listed it as an endangered species in December 2022.

鈥淥ne cannot save the planet from climate change while simultaneously destroying biodiversity,鈥� said Fermina Stevens, director of the Western Shoshone Defense Project, which joined the lawsuit filed Oct. 31 in federal court in Reno.

鈥淭he use of minerals, whether for EVs or solar panels, does not justify this disregard for indigenous cultural areas and keystone environmental laws,鈥� said John Hadder, director of the Great Basin Resource Watch, another co-plaintiff.

Rita Henderson, spokeswoman for the Interior Department鈥檚 Bureau of Land Management in Reno, said the agency had no immediate comment.

Ioneer Vice President Chad Yeftich said the Australia-based mining company intends to intervene on behalf of the U.S. and 鈥渧igorously defend鈥� the project鈥檚 approval, 鈥渨hich was based on its careful and thorough permitting process.鈥�

鈥淲e are confident that the BLM will prevail,鈥� Yeftich said, adding that he doesn鈥檛 expect the lawsuit will postpone plans to begin construction next year.

The lawsuit says the mine will harm sites sacred to the Western Shoshone people. That includes Cave Spring, a natural spring less than a mile away described as 鈥渁 site of intergenerational transmission of cultural and spiritual knowledge.鈥�

But it centers on alleged violations of the Endangered Species Act. It details the Fish and Wildlife Service鈥檚 departure from the dire picture it painted earlier of threats to the 6-inch-tall wildflower with cream or yellow blooms bordering the open-pit mine Ioneer plans to dig three times as deep as the length of a football field.

The mine鈥檚 permit anticipates up to one-fifth of the nearly 1.5 square miles the agency designated as critical habitat surrounding the plants 鈥� home to various pollinators important to their survival 鈥� would be lost for decades, some permanently.

When proposing protection of the 910 acres of聽critical habitat, the service said 鈥渢his unit is essential to the conservation and recovery of Tiehm鈥檚 buckwheat.鈥� The agency formalized the designation when it listed the plant in December 2022, dismissing the alternative of less-stringent threatened status.

鈥淲e find that a threatened species status is not appropriate because the threats are severe and imminent, and Tiehm鈥檚 buckwheat is in danger of extinction now, as opposed to likely to become endangered in the future,鈥� the agency concluded.

The lawsuit also discloses for the first time that the plant鈥檚 population, numbering fewer than 30,000 in the government鈥檚 latest estimates, has suffered additional losses since August that were not considered in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service鈥檚 biological opinion.

The damage is like what the bureau concluded was caused by聽rodents eating the plants聽in a 2020 incident that reduced the population as much as 60 percent, the lawsuit says.

The Fish and Wildlife Service said in its August biological opinion that while the project 鈥渨ill result in the long-term disturbance (approximately 23 years) of 146 acres of the plant community … and the permanent loss of 45 acres, we do not expect the adverse effects to appreciably diminish the value of critical habitat as a whole.鈥�