Federal officials are investing billions of dollars to increase domestic mining for lithium, the critical mineral used to power electric vehicles, computers and even military technology. The goal is to decrease reliance on foreign countries.
The new push for American lithium is working, but at the risk of another critical natural resource: water.
Lithium Liabilities: The untold threat to water in the rush to mine American lithium
By Reporters from the Howard Center for Investigative JournalismAn investigation from the Howard Center at Arizona State University uncovered the coming electric battery revolution in America will require billions upon billions of gallons of water to mine lithium. Many of the new U.S. mines will be located in the drought-prone American West.
Tribes face an uphill battle to defend their sacred land against lithium mining
By Noel Lyn Smith and Pacey Smith-GarciaHoward Center for Investigative Journalism
Lessons from abroad: Environmental and social costs to lithium mining in Argentina
By Francesca D'Annunzio, Anna Montoya-Gaxiola, and Alex AppelHoward Center for Investigative Journalism
Mine Your Business
The laws that will control America's 21st-century lithium mining boom were written in 1872 – well before concerns arose about drought or water contamination. Try your own hand at becoming a modern-day prospector under the 150-year-old rules. Choose your own strategies as financial, environmental, and regulatory challenges pop up. Can you get a new lithium mine online?
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Our Reporters
Meet the Lithium Liabilities reporting team: 11 graduate and four undergraduate students at the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism, at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
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