State engineer doubles down on approval of controversial Utah lithium drilling project
The state engineer has just doubled down on her approval of lithium drilling on the Green River, months after protests from farmers, locals and environmentalists influenced her to reconsider the decision she made earlier this summer. Now, those opponents, who believe the decision sets a dangerous precedent for water use in Utah, are considering whether and how to challenge it again. … Anson Resources, an Australian company, claims their extraction method will reinject 100% of the water they use to draw out the metal back underground, in a “non-consumptive” use of the water. Opponents are skeptical. After Utah State Engineer Teresa Wilhelmsen first approved the project in May, they challenged her call, arguing that the project poses contamination risks to groundwater, undermines existing water rights and uses water that the overtapped Colorado River system doesn’t have to spare.
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