The Bureau of Land Management has approved St. Cloud Mining’s mining exploration project on public lands east of Death Valley Junction, California, that calls for 43 exploratory wells to explore for clinoptilolite, a mineral widely used in many industries to control moisture, capture odors, and neutralize potentially harmful compounds.
The public lands are within the BLM’s Amargosa North Area of Critical Environmental Concern and result in less than one acre of surface disturbance.
According to the Las Vegs Review-Journal, two environmental watchdog nonprofit groups signed in October a notice of intent to sue the BLM over its approval. They argue that the agency violated the federal Endangered Species Act by failing to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over impacts to three protected plants near the St. Cloud mine.
The Amargosa Conservancy, one of the two environmental watchdog nonprofits to sue, has monitored the shallow groundwater of Carson Slough since 2011. The group hasn’t seen any significant changes. The BLM’s hydrologists have argued whether there’s enough evidence to say the drilling would affect water flows, according to the Amargosa Conservancy. Click here to read the article.