Gentrification for Slab City ?

[MotorVation]

I really would like to see Slab City remain what it is. It's not for me but it's home to a lot of people. They pay their dues suffering in that desert heat.

Anything that has the potential to clean up the Salton Sea is worth doing in my opinion. Government isn't doing jack squat. I could go on and on but aside from all the other problems it has and will cause if nothing's done, the New River, the most polluted river of its size in the USA which is filled with industrial waste, human waste and lord knows what else, empties into the Salton Sea and once it gets there it has no where to go. It just keeps getting filthier and filthier. The Sea has been evaporating for years and the only liquid coming in is from agriculture runoff and that river. It's really a mess.

If that article is true, it wouldn't be a bad idea if the private money going into mining underneath it, is only allowed to do so with the condition that some of the profits are used to restore the Sea. If you've never been there, it really is a beautiful area. (To look at)

I took this picture last winter when I camped there for a few days

 

[user 30781]

I'd been wondering for a long time if lithium the medication and lithium for batteries were the same thing. I guess I could have looked it up before now. *eye roll

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/...hium-good-both-batteries-and-bipolar-disorder

I have a beautiful lithium included quartz crystal and an even prettier chunk of lepidolite mica which is purple from lithium.

 

[thegoodtom1]

Lithium mining is nasty business. The strip mining to collect it leaves HUGE amounts of caustic and even deadly chemicals. No one is willing to clean up after as it would put the price way too high to compete with China. They don't seem to care about the clean up. Besides, let the rest of the world use up their supply and we can keep ours for the future.

 

[Gypsy108]

This was the reply from my grandson:

“I dont really get involved with that stuff. If we want lithium for our beloved electric cars then we should probably get our own. And it will use a lot of water but people want there green new deal so the rich can have fancy cars.

Its pretty hard on the local environment but that stuff doesnt grow on trees and we are going to get it from somewhere.  The cartel and canadian mining companies took over the lithium mines in Mexico and are not letting the government in on it”

 

[spoulson]

I saw an article in the New York Times this morning that said that geologists have discovered a way to mine lithium from the Salton Sea in California, which is located in the front yard of the legendary and dearly beloved Slab City. As I understand the situation from the article, the Salton Sea is one of the two places in the U.S. which are the biggest known sources of the lithium we (the U.S., that is,) need to make us independent of the lithium supply from China and a couple of other places in Asia.

Expansion of the other site, in northern Nevada, is being protested and potentially blocked by ranchers and Native Americans for reasons pertaining to their ways of life, but so far no one seems to care about the Salton Sea (Duh!), so it looks like we will see a large and immediate surge of activity there, including a large influx of money and jobs and people with money and equipment and more money. This exploration appears to have the support of the Energy Department and appears to be good to go right now.

So what will it be like if Niland and Bombay Beach and Slab City become prime real estate? Hold on to yer hats, folks.

Here's the link from the article:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/06/business/lithium-mining-race.html

Johnny

I am amazed that they are even going to allow lithium mining in california. It is so polluting and leaves the area filled with sulfur and other major pollutants. They are trying to open one in Maine and coming up against staunch opposition for that reason.

 

[cybrcamper]

I won’t add any comment regarding the merits (or lack of them) of lithium mining but will say this - if you want a description of what will happen in that area when the mining starts, “gentrification” is not too accurate. Look at the oil patch in Western ND, or in many areas of central Canada. The environment will of course suffer, and the property values will go sky high not due to the the desirability of living there but because the wages will be high and so of course will be the rents and prices. You'll see some flippers and developers buy property early, like right about now. They are like locusts and act pretty much the same. I’ve observed this phenomenon in a lot of places over the years.

I really feel bad that this kind of thing could be happening. The Slab is one of the few places one could set up and live cheaply and simply due to the hypermonetization of the rest of the country. I hope I am wrong but this doesn’t look too good.

Also, if you want to read a nytimes.com article go to the Wayback Machine at archive.org. Just paste the URL of the article you want to read into the box at the top.

 

[Tony's Dream]

When I was traveling through northern NV I saw signs protesting the mine. The problem is how we dispose of lithium batteries.....they are considered hazardous waste. Someone is digging deep holes and placing old batteries in containers and burying them.

 

[wayne49]

When I was traveling through northern NV I saw signs protesting the mine. The problem is how we dispose of lithium batteries.....they are considered hazardous waste. Someone is digging deep holes and placing old batteries in containers and burying them.

More likely Northern NV is protesting the local Thacker Pass mine.

https://ndep.nv.gov/land/thacker-pass-project
The protesters viewpoint:

https://www.protectthackerpass.org/the-history-of-thacker-pass/