ELR Citation: 53 ELR 20033
No(s). 3:21-cv-00080-MMD-CLB (D. Nev. Feb 24, 2023) (Du, J.)

A district court denied emergency motions brought by environmental groups, ranchers, and tribes to halt construction of a lithium mine near Thacker Pass, Nevada, pending appeal. The plaintiffs initially argued BLM's approval of the mine violated FLPMA, NEPA, and the National Historic Preservation Act. The court largely affirmed the approval, but concluded it violated FLPMA as it related to the approximately 1,300 acres of land the mining company intends to bury under waste rock because the Bureau did not first make a mining rights validity determination as to that land; it remanded without vacatur for BLM to determine whether the company possesses valid rights to the waste dump and mine tailings land. The plaintiffs subsequently filed emergency motions for injunctions pending the Ninth Circuit's resolution of their appeal. The district court concluded that the plaintiffs failed to make a clear showing of entitlement to the extraordinary remedy they sought, and that its previous decision to remand without vacatur was "the right one."