Lithium Extraction Episodes

Chance Wilcox explains how Dateline Resources’ proposed rare-earth mine could industrialize roughly 20,000 acres beside Twentynine Palms and Joshua Tree National Park, threatening residents, wildlife, water, air quality and a tourism-dependent economy.

Mary O’Brien of Project 1100 explains how commercial honeybees compete with and spread disease to native solitary bees, why public lands are essential pollinator refuges and what genuine bee conservation requires.

Rick LoBello describes a lifelong effort to connect protected lands on both sides of the Rio Grande, using wildlife recovery, community relationships and environmental education to revive the vision of an international Big Bend park.

Drawing on geographer Diana K. Davis, Chris challenges the idea that deserts are failed landscapes, traces the colonial politics embedded in ‘desertification’ and argues for precise descriptions of degradation in drylands.

John Dougherty of Save the Scenic Santa Ritas explains how Hudbay’s Copper World proposal would expand open-pit mining, deplete groundwater, damage cultural and wildlife resources and exploit the 1872 Mining Law.

Mason Voehl celebrates Rover Critical Minerals' withdrawal from lithium exploration near Ash Meadows and explains how local residents, conservation groups and legal advocacy produced a rare desert-protection victory.

Journalist Caroline Tracey explains Plan Sonora's solar, lithium, gas pipeline and logistics projects—and how a purported green transition can transfer environmental costs to Indigenous and Mexican communities.

Field recordings from Amargosa Valley and Joshua Tree capture residents defending Ash Meadows from mining and protesting cuts that threaten National Park Service staff and visitor safety.

Mason Voehl explains how community organizing and scientific advocacy produced an interim halt to new mining claims near Ash Meadows—and what must happen to secure a 20-year mineral withdrawal.

Chris Clarke talks with botanist Naomi Fraga about Tiehm's buckwheat at Rhyolite Ridge and Tecopa bird's beak, exploring how rare endemic plants collide with lithium mining and rapid industrialization.

Must protecting the climate require sacrificing intact desert landscapes? Chris Clarke examines that argument through the controversy over Rover Critical Minerals' proposed lithium exploration near Ash Meadows and Amargosa Valley. After a company representative suggested mining opponents might be aligned with fossil-fuel interests, Chris challenges the assumption that opposing destructive renewable-energy development means opposing climate action. The episode asks a larger question: can society address climate change without simply reproducing the extractive economic model that helped create the crisis?

Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge protects one of the world's most remarkable concentrations of desert springs and endemic species, but a new mining proposal raises concerns about the groundwater sustaining them. Mason Voehl of the Amargosa Conservancy returns to discuss lithium exploration proposed by Rover Critical Minerals and the campaign to stop it. Chris and Mason examine the mining claims, the initial pause secured by conservation groups, and why industrial activity near Ash Meadows could have consequences extending far beyond the footprint of a mine.

Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge is one of the most extraordinary desert oases on Earth, home to crystal-clear springs and species found nowhere else. This episode explores the refuge's unique ecology, the conservation challenges it faces, and why protecting desert water is vital for preserving biodiversity throughout the Southwest.

Even after the Trump administration ended, border wall construction—and its environmental consequences—continued in unexpected ways. Featuring reporting from The Border Chronicle, this episode examines ongoing border infrastructure projects, their effects on wildlife and desert ecosystems, and the complicated politics surrounding conservation along the U.S.–Mexico border.

The world's leading climate report contains thousands of pages, yet deserts often receive surprisingly little attention. This episode examines how the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change addresses arid lands, what was overlooked, and why deserts deserve a much larger role in conversations about climate change and adaptation.

For years, scientists believed this remarkable desert fish had disappeared forever—until an extraordinary rediscovery changed everything. This episode tells one of the desert's greatest conservation success stories and explores how determined scientists and conservationists helped bring a species back from the brink.

The Dixie Valley toad lives in just one warm spring in Nevada, making it one of North America's rarest amphibians. This episode explores the conservation fight to protect the species from geothermal development and examines how a tiny desert toad became the center of a much larger debate about renewable energy and biodiversity.

On a visit to Bonanza Spring, threatened by the Cadiz corporation's plan to mine desert groundwater for profit, Alicia Pike talks about what she hopes to bring to 90MFN as cohost. Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/ninetymilesfromneedles) Support our show!: https://90milesfromneedles.com/patreon See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Become a desert defender!: https://90milesfromneedles.com/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.