PHOENIX (CN) — A federal judge paused a lithium mining project in western Arizona after the Hualapai Tribal Nation complained the drilling will irreparably harm a medicinal spring it considers to be sacred.
The project — exploratory drilling to find lithium for later mining — was set to begin Tuesday morning. But the Hualapai tribe says the Bureau of Land Management failed to consider likely harm to both the underground aquifer that feeds the spring, known as Ha’Kamwe', and the sanctity of the spring itself when it issued its final environmental impact statement approving Arizona Lithium’s mining project. The tribe sued the Bureau on Aug. 2 and moved for a temporary restraining order on Friday, claiming violations of both the National Environmental Protection Act and the National Historic Preservation Act.
In a federal courtroom in Phoenix Monday afternoon, U.S. District Judge Diane Humetewa approved the tribe’s motion.
“Maintaining the status quo is necessary here because there are issues related to the amount of harm and the types of harm if something were to go awry in the some 100 holes in the aquifer,” the Barack Obama appointee said after granting the temporary restraining order.
Ha’Kamwe' and the surrounding Big Sandy River Valley are part of the ancestral homeland of the Hualapai, who have lived on the land near Wikieup, Arizona, for as long as history has been recorded. The spring itself is on a parcel of land called Cholla Canyon Ranch, which is owned in trust by the Bureau of Land Management for the benefit of the Hualapai people.
The Hualapai use the spring for religious ceremonies and healing. The Bureau determined in 1999 that it qualifies for the National Register of Historic Places as a "Traditional Cultural Property."
Lithium Arizona submitted a lithium drilling plan in September 2019 that would affect 21 acres of land with more than 100 drilling sites. But the Bureau waited eight months to invite the tribe to consult and request help identifying cultural properties. The tribe informed the Bureau that the proposed project would surround the spring on three sides, but the Bureau determined in 2020 that the project would have no permanent impact on any historic sites.
The tribe says noise, vibration and vehicular traffic around the spring will all have negative impacts on prayer and cultural ceremonies.
Though the Bureau’s final assessment acknowledged effects of noise and vibration on the cultural site, it relied on a 24-year-old study determining the volume of groundwater to conclude that the spring’s flow would not be hindered.
The tribe submitted a new hydrology report finding a likelihood that drilling 300 feet deep around the spring would affect its source, but the Bureau largely ignored the tribe’s findings.
Department of Justice attorney Daniel Luecke, representing the Bureau, said the tribe’s study relied on much of the same data and sources as the study the Bureau relied on, so it was up to the Bureau’s discretion.
In its motion for a restraining order, the tribe laid out alternatives it suggested to the Bureau, like drilling fewer, shallower holes further from the spring. But the Bureau argues that the tribe failed to demonstrate viability of the alternatives in accomplishing Arizona Lithium’s desired outcome. Considering only two alternatives — no action, or the plan as is — was reasonable in this instance because of the limited scope of the project, according to the Bureau.
It denied National Historic Preservation Act claims as well, arguing that the “visual, noise and vibration effects” of the drilling would be only temporary, and wouldn’t irreparably harm the specific characteristics that make the site historic.
A thorn that may remain in the side of the tribe’s case is that drilling has already taken place, and plaintiff attorney Laura Berglan admitted that the tribe wasn’t aware of the drilling until after it occurred. Luecke said those holes were drilled closer to the spring than the proposed holes will be.
“There’s evidence that the 2019 drilling disrupted activity, or that members of the tribe were even aware of it,” he said in court.
Berglan said this time is different.
The holes drilled in 2019 were part of the first face of lithium exploration, and were few and far between. The coming phase of the project will drill significantly more and significantly deeper — 131 holes are to be drilled at 300 feet. If the noise and vibration from the 2019 drilling didn’t disrupt cultural practices, that doesn’t mean this round won’t, she said.
Berglan added that finding no impact from the 2019 drilling is an illegitimate conclusion, as the tribe has recorded historic drops in water level and multiple temporary flow stoppages since 2019.
Humetewa set oral arguments for preliminary injunction for September 17 at 10 a.m. The restraining order will remain in place until then.
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