The Salton Sea could produce the world’s greenest lithium

About 40 miles north of the California-Mexico border lies the shrinking, landlocked lake known as the Salton Sea. Once the epicenter of a thriving resort community, water contamination and decades of drought have contributed to a collapse of the lake’s once vibrant ecosystem, and given rise to ghost towns.

But amidst this environmental disaster, the California Energy Commission estimates that there’s enough lithium here to meet all of the United States’ projected future demand, and 40% of the entire world’s demand. That’s big news for the booming electric vehicle industry, as lithium is the common denominator across all types of EV batteries.

Traditionally, lithium extraction involves either open-pit mining or evaporation ponds, which work by pumping lithium-containing brine to the surface and waiting for the water to dry up. Both of these methods have huge land footprints, are often very water-intensive, and can create lots of contamination and waste.

But at the Salton Sea, three companies are developing chemical processes to extract lithium in a much cleaner way, taking advantage of the Salton Sea’s rich geothermal resources. Near the lake, there are already 11 operating geothermal power plants, ten of which are owned by Berkshire Hathaway‘s renewable energy division, BHE Renewables.

“We are already pumping 50,000 gallons of brine per minute across all of our ten geothermal facilities to the surface,” said Alicia Knapp, President and CEO of BHE Renewables, “And we’re using the steam from that brine to generate clean energy. And so we’re really halfway there in that we’ve got the lithium right here in our hands.”

Two other companies, EnergySource and Controlled Thermal Resources, or CTR, are also developing joint geothermal-lithium facilities at the Salton Sea, and General Motors has already committed to source lithium from CTR.

This new industry could be a major economic boon to the region, where the majority Mexican-American community faces high rates of unemployment and poverty, and suffers health impacts from the toxic dust that blows off the Salton Sea’s drying lakebed.

“We’re cautiously excited in regards to the Lithium Valley,” said Maria Nava-Froelich, the temporary mayor of Calipatria, the city of about 6,000 where the geothermal power plants are located, “We see it as a game changer here for the Imperial County.”

Nava-Froelich hopes the industry will bring much needed jobs and development to the region, helping to revitalize communities have seen an exodus of young people seeking opportunities elsewhere. And environmentalists hope that the influx of attention and money will hasten California’s efforts to restore the environment in and around the Salton Sea.

If there were ever a time to bet on domestic mineral projects, it might be now. At the end of March, President Biden invoked the Defense Production Act to boost…