Advancing Clean Energy Development in Accordance to Environmental Regulations
There has been great demand for lithium batteries as the use of electric vehicles (EV) and construction of energy storage systems continue to rise. Ioneer’s Rhyolite Ridge lithium-boron mine project aims to extract both minerals and process them into lithium carbonate and boric acid to supply lithium for EV batteries. The project also has strategic importance as its location will strengthen domestic supply chains, reducing dependence on foreign sources.
Nossaman has worked with Ioneer since 2018 on permitting the mine project, which was complicated by the presence of a buckwheat variant, Tiehm’s buckwheat, the only known population of which occupies a total of 10 acres at the mine site. In 2019, the Center for Biological Diversity petitioned the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (Service) to list Tiehm’s buckwheat under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). In December 2022, the Service did list Tiehm’s buckwheat as an endangered species and designated 910 acres of critical habitat, to assure availability of pollinators for the plants.
Nossaman assisted Ioneer with changes to its mine plan in 2022, and again in 2023, to minimize impacts on Tiehm’s buckwheat, first to avoid direct impacts on the plants and next to minimize impacts on designated critical habitat. Ioneer also developed a detailed Buckwheat Conservation Plan that addressed potential threats to the plant from mining operations and included plans to establish new plant populations. During project permitting, Ioneer collected seeds from the Tiehm’s buckwheat, built a greenhouse and raised plants that can be used to establish new Tiehm’s buckwheat populations.
The Bureau of Land Management approved Ioneer’s mine plan in October 2024. In November 2024, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Western Shoshone Defense Project and the Great Basin Resource Watch filed a suit challenging BLM’s approval, as well as the Service’s ESA biological opinion finding that the mine project would not jeopardize the continued existence of Tiehm’s buckwheat or adversely modify its critical habitat.
In response, our attorneys successfully defended the mine project, arguing that Ioneer’s mitigation measures – including redesigning the mine to avoid the Tiehm’s buckwheat, minimizing impacts on designated critical habitat and implementing a wide range of conservation measures to benefit the plant – satisfied requirements under the ESA, the Federal Land Policy and Management Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. On March 30, 2026, the federal district court in Nevada upheld the Bureau of Land Management’s approval of the mine plan and the Service’s biological opinion.
This victory advances not only the growth of renewable power industry, but it also strengthens U.S. economy by boosting domestic supply, attracting investment and creating jobs in Nevada.
