Environmentalists warn of intent to sue over snail species living near Nevada lithium mine

By SCOTT SONNER
Associated Press

RENO, Nev. (AP) — Environmentalists  are poised to return to court in an ongoing legal battle with the Biden administration over a Nevada lithium mine. Their latest argument accuses federal wildlife officials of dragging their feet on a year-old petition seeking endangered species protection for a tiny snail that lives nearby. The Western Watersheds Project says in a formal notice of intent to sue that the government’s failure to list the Kings River pyrg as a threatened or endangered species could push it to the brink of extinction. The only place it’s known to exist is in 13 shallow springs near where Lithium Americas is building its Thacker Pass Mine near the Oregon line.