Development of a major lithium project in northern Imperial County is lurching ahead after a county judge threw out a lawsuit that had frozen construction for close to a year. The planned ​​Hell’s Kitchen Project would be the region’s first operational commercial lithium extraction plant. Situated near the Salton Sea, it aims to collect dissolved particles of the valuable mineral from searing hot water deep below the valley and is being built by the privately-held energy firm Controlled Thermal Resources, or CTR. The lawsuit that blocked it was brought early last year by two environmental justice groups. … They accused Imperial County officials of rushing their environmental analysis of the plant and underestimating its future impacts on the region’s water, air and tribal cultural resources. 

Other environmental lawsuit news: 

• Friends of the Earth: News release: Lawsuit challenges new oil and gas drilling on (Calif.) public lands​