One community in Arizona is worried that a new mine intended to support the green energy transition will pollute a local waterway and threaten a thriving ecosystem.
What's happening?
As Australian mining company South32 prepares to launch a massive mining project in the Patagonia Mountains of southern Arizona, locals are expressing concerns that it will pollute and dry up the local waterway.
Inside Climate News (ICN) reported on the issue, highlighting how community scientists from the Friends of Sonoita Creek are taking baseline water samples to help monitor the health of the watershed. The publication also explained that the Biden administration backed the zinc and manganese mine to ramp up the mining of minerals required to create greener technologies.
Friends of Sonoita Creek told the news site that it hopes to use the data it's collecting to hold the mining company accountable for any degradation of water quality or if it violates its permits. Meanwhile, other members of the community also expressed their concerns.
"I essentially live in grief, grief for the reality of what is happening and the devastation that it will bring to this incredibly biologically diverse area," Carolyn Shafer with the environmental group Patagonia Area Resource Alliance told ICN. "We will be a sacrifice zone in every sense of that term."
Why is this struggle important?
This issue highlights the delicate balance between advancing the clean energy transition and protecting ecosystems and local populations.
For one, mining minerals like lithium, cobalt, graphite, and others for use in electric vehicles, solar panels, and other clean technologies can drain water resources, per the World Resources Institute (WRI).
The organization explains that most mining methods used to collect these "critical minerals" require massive amounts of water to separate minerals, cool machinery, and control dust. Plus, waste from the industry can contaminate water in nearby communities. For instance, Harvard International Review reports that lithium and copper extraction have already consumed over 65% of the local water supply in Chile's Salar de Atacama.
Plus, using data from the U.S. Geological Survey and WRI Aqueduct tool, WRI found that at least 16% of the world's land-based critical mineral mines, deposits, and districts are located in spots that already face high or extremely high levels of water stress.
At the same time, mining is hardly the only threat to our water. For instance, an investigation recently found that poultry giant Tyson Foods dumps millions of pounds of toxic waste into American waterways.
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A number of lakes and rivers across the world have hit historic lows as a result of drought. One example is the Amazon Basin, which has suffered a historic drought over the last few years, leading to low water levels in rivers across the region.
Although droughts have existed throughout history, the United Nations notes that our overheating planet is changing water availability and is exacerbating water shortages in already water-stressed regions.
It is also important to note that although the mining of minerals used for technologies like EVs can be harmful to the environment, the environmental impact of gas-powered cars is much worse. The same is true of using solar panels and wind turbines as opposed to burning dirty fuels.
What's being done about the threats from critical mineral mining?
The community advocates in Arizona intend to keep fighting for their watershed. For instance, the Patagonia Area Resource Alliance has already sued the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality over South32's application to renew its Arizona Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit.
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Never 👎 "This is very much a David-versus-Goliath situation. I always remind people, though, don't forget who won that one, and we are determined to get this as mitigated as we possibly can," Shafer told ICN. "If you're going to force us to do a mine under federal and state regulations, we intend to mitigate this to the highest level possible in order for this to remain a healthy, biologically diverse ecosystem."
The WRI also recommends several measures to reduce the impact of critical mineral mining, including exploring new technologies to reduce the industry's impacts on water and expanding access to data about mining's impacts.
To that end, South32 contends that its mine intends to operate as sustainably as possible and projects that it will use 75% less water than comparable mines.
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