Climate Point: California’s ‘Saudi Arabia of lithium’ gets closer to development

Welcome to Climate Point, your weekly guide to climate, energy and the environment. I’m Erin Rode, writing from Palm Springs, California. 

About 90 miles southeast of here is Imperial Valley, a region that Gov. Gavin Newsom has recently taken to calling the “Saudi Arabia of lithium.” Others have dubbed the region “Lithium Valley” due to the estimated 15 million tons of lithium available for extraction, making Imperial County home to one of the largest lithium deposits in the world. Global demand for lithium is expected to grow by as much as 4,000% over the next several decades as lithium plays a role in transitioning to the clean energy economy, due to its use in battery storage and electric vehicles.

On Tuesday, President Joe Biden met with Newsom, industry executives, community representatives and labor leaders to announce several investments in domestic production of critical minerals and materials, including lithium extraction in Imperial County. 

Meanwhile, local officials are gearing up for the region’s transformation into "Lithium Valley," with the Imperial County Board of Supervisors releasing a specific list of requests from the state and federal government as the county prepares to potentially become a national hub for lithium development.

The county’s asks for the state include a local California Polytechnic University, $5 million in direct funding, and $500,000 a year to support a new Lithium Valley Development Office. 

From the federal government, Imperial County is requesting several major infrastructure investments, including $50 million for road and bridge infrastructure in the region, $1 billion for railway upgrades, and $500 million for upgrades to the electrical grid. 

Community leaders are hoping to avoid further environmental degradation to an area that is also home to the receding Salton Sea, and to ensure that local residents will actually see economic benefits from the lithium projects. 

“When the community hears the excitement around lithium, there is a cautious optimism, because of the context of a community that has seen unfulfilled promises. Could this be a game-changer? Yes, if we get it right," said Silvia Paz, chair of the state’s new Lithium Valley Commission and executive director of local community group Alianza Coachella Valley. 

Here are some other stories that may be of interest this week. 

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Must-read stories

Flood deaths. Vehicle-related flood deaths reached a five-year high in 2021, and extreme rainfall that is expected to worsen due to climate change is partially to blame, Dinah Voyles Pulver reports for USA Today. At least 75 people died last year when the vehicles they were in flooded, or when their vehicles fell after roads or bridges collapsed. Nearly 20 years ago, the National Weather Service launched a public awareness campaign focused on flood-related deaths, but deaths in vehicles have continued. People often drive right into flooded roads, or are surprised by flash floods, and vehicle-related incidents remain a leading cause of weather-related fatalities.

“We need better messaging and more awareness about climate change in general, the severity of these storms and their unpredictable nature,” Jonathan Sury, project director at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University, told Voyles Pulver. 

Tree wars. A fight over the logging of redwoods in Jackson Demonstration State Forest, located along California's Mendocino Coast, has reignited in recent years. But this time, Native American tribes that are indigenous to the area have a seat at the table, in what some say could be a game-changer for the forest, Lila Seidman reports for the Los Angeles Times. For decades, a war between environmental activists and state and timber industry leaders has played out over the future of logging in the forest, which is managed by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention. But current discussions between state officials and the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians could result in the first agreement with tribes to co-manage one of the state’s nine demonstration forests, and tribal leaders say they envision a future for the forest without logging. 

Political climate

Water infrastructure. Deb Haaland made her first visit to Arizona as secretary of the Interior this week, Debra Utacia Krol reports for the Arizona Republic. Haaland touted water, drought resilience and other projects that will be funded by the recently passed infrastructure law, including tribal water projects, some of which have waited for funding for decades. Several Arizona tribes have long dealt with inadequate water supplies, tainted water, and outdated sanitation systems. The White Mountain Apache Tribe, for example, has waited about 40 years to build a new water system, and an estimated 30% to 40% of Navajo homes lack running water. Haaland announced that tribes across the U.S. will receive $2.5 billion to fund Indian water rights settlements, part of a more than $13 billion appropriation to tribes from the infrastructure law. 

Much ado about CEQA. Last week, UC Berkeley sent a letter to thousands of potential students warning that the university could be required to cap its enrollment for next year, after a Superior Court ruling ordered the campus to freeze enrollment at 42,237 students and stop working on a faculty housing project. Neighboring residents had filed the case under the California Environmental Quality Act, a landmark law passed in 1970 that requires local governments and public agencies to study the potential environmental impacts of a project before building it. Neighbors argued the university failed to study the impacts of growing enrollment on noise, traffic, and other quality-of-life issues. 

The case has renewed calls to overhaul CEQA, as some argue the law is now misused by project opponents who have other complaints, but frame their opposition as related to environmental issues, writes Dustin Gardner in the San Francisco Chronicle. This week, State Sen. Scott Wiener introduced new legislation that would allow state universities and community college systems to build housing without going through the CEQA review process. 

Hot takes

On fire. The risk for highly devastating fires across the globe could rise by up to 57% by the end of the century, according to a United Nations report. New York Times

Solar power. California might change its rooftop solar rules. Here’s what happened when a utility in Imperial County made a similar change. The Desert Sun 

Protest run. More than 100 people joined the eighth annual Oak Flat Run to protest a planned copper mine beneath Oak Flat, a site sacred to Indigenous people located east of Phoenix. Arizona Republic 

Utah water. Joan Meiners outlines the key regional water issues and questions residents should ask those in charge in her last of a series of articles addressing topics relevant to water security in southwestern Utah. St. George Spectrum & Daily News

And another thing

Beaver boom. Beavers, which were once nonexistent in northwest Alaska, are now abundant, Kylie Mohr reports for High Country News. The beavers started appearing more frequently in the 1980s and '90s, and using satellite imagery, scientists recently found that the number of beaver dams in the area of Kotzebue, Alaska, jumped from just two in 2002 to 98 in 2019, a 5,000% rise. As beavers move north partly due to climate change, they’re also transforming the Alaskan tundra, Mohr reports.