Federal judge unlikely to issue ruling before next week as Arizona tribe fights to extend lithium drilling ban

Authors: Gabriel Sandoval and Scott Sonner/AP

Arizona tribal members appealed to a federal judge Tuesday to extend a temporary ban on exploratory drilling for a lithium mining project near lands that have been the site of religious and cultural ceremonies for centuries.

The chief executive of an Australian mining company that is trying to determine whether there is enough lithium to justify commercial activity to accelerate production of renewable energy sources has testified that every day of delay is costing the company money.

The judge said she won’t be able to decide for more than a week whether to grant the tribe’s request or lift the temporary injunction issued last month.

The Hualapai tribe says energy development will harm centuries-old ceremonial sites about halfway between Phoenix and Las Vegas.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said Tuesday that her office shares the tribe’s concerns that federal land managers who approved the project failed to consider how the project might affect groundwater.

The case is the latest in a series of lawsuits involving Native American tribes and environmentalists as President Joe Biden’s administration grapples with green energy projects that encroach on culturally significant lands.

The Biden administration has made increased production of lithium, which is intended to help make batteries for electric vehicles, a key part of its clean energy agenda, which aims to reduce the U.S.’s reliance on fossil fuels by developing new sources of renewable energy.

In an all-day hearing in U.S. District Court on Tuesday, Justice Department lawyers defended the Bureau of Land Management’s decision to approve drilling near Wikieup, Arizona, about 150 miles (241 kilometers) southwest of the Grand Canyon.

Paul Lloyd, managing director of mining company Arizona Lithium Ltd, testified that losses resulting from further delays could run into “tens of millions” of dollars.

U.S. District Judge Diane Humetewa said at the end of Tuesday’s hearing that she was taking the case under advisement. She gave lawyers for both sides until next Tuesday to summarize their arguments and provide more detailed answers to questions she asked about the government’s compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.

The tribe wants a judge to issue a preliminary injunction extending the ban on operations until a hearing on allegations that the government failed to adequately analyze the potential impact to the sacred springs, which the Hualapai people call Ha’Kamwe′, meaning hot spring.

The springs have been a place of healing and prayer for generations, according to court documents filed on their behalf by attorneys for environmental group Earthjustice and the Colorado-based Western Mining Action Project.

Ka-Voka Jackson, director of cultural resources for the Hualapai Tribe, testified Tuesday that if the exploration project goes ahead, “the impacts will be irreversible.”

Arizona Lithium’s lawyers argued that the tribe’s claims are speculative and that both the federal government and the mining company have presented evidence that lithium exploration poses a “compelling public interest in the context of the nation’s efforts to address climate change.”

Among the project’s backers is Navajo Transitional Energy Company, which announced in 2022 its plans to merge with an Australian company and serve as a contractor on the project. NTEC said at the time that it would be an opportunity “to expand our role in promoting a clean energy economy.”

The state of Arizona had stayed out of the dispute until the attorney general filed a motion Monday seeking intervener status to support the tribe’s request for a temporary extension of the drilling ban. The judge said she won’t decide until next week whether to grant the motion.

Mayes wrote in the application that the Bureau of Land Management “must do more to fully consider the Project’s impacts on Arizona’s unique water resources—a resource of incalculable cultural value that has sustained life in Arizona for generations.”

“The court should issue a preliminary injunction to ensure that this matter is thoroughly considered by the court before taking any irrevocable action,” she said.

Sonner reported from Reno, Nevada.