First off, the Salton Sea is an environmental disaster.
I live about 30 miles from the Salton Sea, and living much closer to the Sea is a bad idea as it is unhealthful.
However, the Salton Sea may someday provide 40% of the world's lithium!
(I saw this on the local news.)
Right now, the U.S. produces very little lithium, but that may change.
Starting in 2024, commercial production of lithium at the Salton Sea is scheduled, though production will increase dramatically in 2027.
There is a ton of geothermal energy production at the Salton Sea, and in the future, lithium production could happen in connection with the geothermal energy production.
If lithium production becomes huge at the Salton Sea, maybe the environmental disaster will finally get cleaned up.
Any type of mining is usually an environmental monstrosity. OTOH the Salton former Sea which was formerly Sink is in the middle of the desert iirc, so there is not much of an environment to preserve.
Intriguing situation. If the Salton Sea lithium production is very lucrative, California could pass legislation that will ensure some of the profits goes towards reclaiming the environmental health of the area.
If it pans out, two of the world’s biggest billionaires stand to get a whole lot richer, but I wouldn’t expect them to spread the wealth as they are known for paying almost no taxes (less than their secretary). If it goes belly up, I would expect the people of the state and local communities to be left holding the bag.
There's a California budget proposal for developing "Lithium Valley."
Revenue from lithium extraction:
80% to locals
20% to Salton Sea restoration
That means that if this proposal gets approved, all of the revenue from lithium extraction from the Salton Sea will go towards the Coachella Valley, and not to the state of California.
That's excellent news for us locals.
Hopefully they'll even fix the Salton Sea, which has been an environmental disaster for decades.
we have followed the “ups-and-downs” of the SS for several years.
lithium has the short-term potential to make lemonade out of the SS lemon.
lithium also has long-term potential problems, too. just like nuclear power.
bottom line: EVERY energy-thing has some long-term potential problem.
That’s because your average billionaire is a pretty savvy negotiator, and the people they’re negotiating with are mid-level city employees who probably have less than $100k in their personal bank accounts. It’s literally like me playing 1-1 with Steph Curry.