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A power plant along the Salton Sea in Calipatria, California. | Credit: Bing Guan \/ Bloomberg \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
An estimated $500 billion worth of lithium lies below the Salton Sea, a large lake in Imperial County, California, east of San Diego, and many people are eager to tap into this \u201cwhite gold mine.\u201d But the sea is located in a region of the Golden State where there are already numerous environmental concerns, and some residents worry that plundering for lithium could exacerbate the problem.<\/p>\n
\u2018Saudi Arabia of lithium\u2019<\/p>\n
There has been a renewed push to extract the Salton Sea\u2019s lithium, as the mineral is crucially important for rechargeable electric batteries. The lithium in question could likely \u201cpower our smartphones, electric cars and electricity grids,\u201d said Soumya Karlamangla at The New York Times<\/a>, and a modern gold rush \u201ccould bring jobs, tax dollars and economic revitalization to one of the most impoverished places in the nation.\u201d In 2022, the area was called<\/a> the \u201cSaudi Arabia of lithium\u201d by California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), a reference to that country\u2019s abundant natural resources.<\/p>\n Pressure to extract this lithium<\/a> is also coming from the artificial intelligence industry, as AI is \u201cdriving a surge in energy demand as tech companies scramble to build more data centers,\u201d said Kori Suzuki at KPBS San Diego<\/a>. There is \u201cjust a massive demand for power,\u201d Rod Colwell, the CEO of Controlled Thermal Resources, said to KPBS. The company is planning to build a lithium extraction project in the region, and there has never \u201cbeen a change of focus.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Not everyone is eagerly welcoming\u2019<\/p>\n Residents of Imperial County, on the other hand, are concerned that the ongoing lithium push could create even more environmental hazards<\/a>, and \u201cnot everyone is eagerly welcoming\u201d the industry, Karlamangla said at the Times. The Salton Sea has been rapidly shrinking, and \u201cas it does, it spews plumes of pesticide-laden dust throughout Imperial County.\u201d Lithium extraction requires a lot of fresh water, and locals \u201cworry the process will deplete the region\u2019s scarce water resources.\u201d<\/p>\n Ecological groups have launched lawsuits, arguing that environmental hazards outweigh the benefits<\/a> of extracting the lithium. The proposed project from Controlled Thermal Resources \u201cwould create a high-water demand in an arid desert environment where the drying out of the Salton Sea worsens severe air pollution impacts,\u201d said a legal brief from the nonprofits Comite Civico del Valle and Earthworks. The lawsuits \u201conly serve to delay progress on clean energy projects that are essential to the community, California, and the nation,\u201d Lauren Rose, a spokesperson for Controlled Thermal Resources, told CalMatters<\/a>.<\/p>\n Others are not buying this argument. The project \u201cmust be corrected to meet the standards that protect our community and our environment,\u201d Luis Olmedo, the executive director of Comite Civico del Valle, said to CalMatters. Imperial County is \u201cno stranger to 21st century plans that arrive with great promise but do little to benefit locals,\u201d Aaron Cant\u00fa said at Capital & Main<\/a>. The lithium mining is \u201cjust another way the community will be sacrificed for private gain,\u201d Anahi Araiza, a policy researcher at Imperial Valley Equity & Justice, told Capital & Main. Residents \u201cwant a slow and methodical process to ensure that things are done well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. A…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":256412,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,113380,113381,53999,457,12925,113382,112299,10359,113383],"class_list":{"0":"post-256411","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-california-headlines","10":"tag-california-news","11":"tag-calipatria","12":"tag-controlled-thermal-resources","13":"tag-environmental-concerns","14":"tag-gavin-newsom","15":"tag-imperial-county","16":"tag-kpbs-san-diego","17":"tag-lithium","18":"tag-salton-sea","19":"tag-soumya-karlamangla"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}