North Vegas Times

The project that would allow for the biggest lithium mine in the country to be located in Nevada is facing stiff opposition.

A Twitter user with the name @AshLikeSnow17 posted that the clean energy project faces the same dilemma as traditional fuels.

“Plans To Dig the Biggest Lithium Mine in US Face Mounting Opposition Resistance to Lithium Americas' plans to dig an element critical to the energy transition at Nevada's Thacker Pass shows that 'clean' energy could face the same challenges as fossil fuels,” they wrote.

A large deposit of lithium can be found inside of a dormant volcano located in Thacker Pass, according to Inside Climate News.

Max Wilbert, of the Protect Thacker Pass campaign, told Inside Climate News that the protests would not let up until the project is terminated.

“We are not leaving until this project is canceled,” Wilbert said. “If need be, this will come down to direct action. We mean to put ourselves in between the machines and this place.”

Lithium is a chief component for the switch to clean energy, however, for the past eight months, environmental and tribal activists have objected to plans to mine it for clean technologies.  

Wilbert added that there is a misconception on just how green clean energy really is.

“We want people to understand that ‘clean energy’ is not clean,” Wilbert said, according to Inside Climate News. “We’re here because our allegiance is to the land. It’s not to cars. It’s not to high-energy, modern lifestyle. It’s to this place.”

The itinerary to dig for lithium, which also known as white gold, has hit a snag in the opposition from tribes, ranchers, residents and activists who say they consider the consequences of the mine will offset lithium’s aid to the climate change as the country seeks to use it as a less-polluting energy sources than fossil fuels.