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Officials from the state’s impoverished and heavily-polluted Imperial County want to make sure residents there reap the benefits of any lithium boom if it turns out brine brought up by geothermal plants to generate electricity at the Salton Sea can be mined commercially for the element.

Lithium is a key component in batteries both for grid electricity storage and electric cars, buses and trucks, and many electronic products.

“This is a flag in the ground that this is a resource [that] should benefit the people here,” Imperial County Supervisor Ryan Kelley said at a Feb. 18 press conference announcing a lithium extraction and geothermal energy investment plan for his region. The county is seeking permission from the California Energy Commission to permit geothermal energy plants at the Salton Sea up to 99 megawatts.

“This could be a game-changer if done right,” Silvia Paz, head of the environmental justice organization Alianza Coachella Valley, said during a Feb. 22 White House press conference on developing a domestic energy supply for lithium and other elements essential to advancing clean energy.

Doing it “right” in the County’s “Lithium Valley,” she said, means doubling investments in local career pathways to provide community members the education and skills needed for the projected thousands of jobs, from lithium extraction to potential cathode and battery manufacturing. However, she noted the region’s crumbling infrastructure, including power lines that blow down during high winds. “We have a long ways to go,” she said.

She and county officials have the ear of key federal and state officials.

On Tuesday President Biden reiterated an urgent need for a domestic supply of lithium and other critical elements, adding, there must be assurances “that these resources benefit folks in the communities where they live.” He also announced Feb. 22 additional funding for battery supply chains. The Department of Defense is allocating $35 million to MP Materials, the only US rate earth mine owner, to advance the processing of critical elements to support clean energy in California, including the building of half a million electric cars by 2025.

Imperial County is seeking well over $2 billion dollars in economic assistance from the state and federal governments.

Asked the likelihood of approval of that sum, Jesus Escobar, chair of the Imperial County Board of Supervisors, pointed to the $45 billion state surplus and to both the Newsom and Biden administrations' commitments to disadvantaged communities. “This is the perfect time for this ask.”

“To date, there have been extremely limited economic and professional opportunities for people living in Imperial County,” Kelley said. The county suffers double-digit unemployment and significant water pollution from the dominant agricultural industry and dangerous air pollution levels from diesel trucks and heavy traffic at the border with Mexico.

Unprecedented potential

Imperial County’s Lithium Valley encompassing the Salton Sea is estimated to have a possible 15 million metric tons of extractable lithium floating in the extremely hot brine deep below the salty lake surface that is pulled up by geothermal plants. After the heat from the brine powers the turbines without creating carbon emissions, the cooler brine gets reinjected. Pilots are in the works that extract lithium from it before it is reinjected into the earth.

LCE: Lithium Carbonate Equivalent

The United States needs a domestic source of lithium that can be extracted using renewable energy, Biden and many clean energy experts say.

Last week, the Imperial County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a framework to establish an investment toehold in the emerging lithium extraction industry, and that of other valuable elements contained in the brine of the geothermal facilities at the Salton Sea. They also want a piece of geothermal project development and battery production in partnership with California and the federal government.

Last September, the county asked the California Energy Commission for permission to certify the construction of power projects up to 99 MW. Currently, local geothermal power production permits are capped at 49 MW.

The CEC is trying to streamline its procedures for delegating site certification authority over geothermal plants to local governments, Commission spokesperson Michael Ward told Current. Those amendments are expected to be voted on by the five Commission members this spring.

Today, 430 MW are generated from the geothermal power plants in the Salton Sea, with another 1,500 MW of new projects within reach thanks in part to a California Public Utilities Commission order for 1 gigawatt of new geothermal energy in the state. That is pursuant to the Commission’s 11.5 GW clean power mandate by mid-decade, passed last May.

If the lithium extraction technologies being developed and about to be tested by three companies with geothermal plants in the area can be refined and proven effective, they could deliver 10 times the current U.S. lithium demand, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory reported last July. The CEC estimated that up to 150,000 metric tons of lithium per year would be recoverable from existing geothermal projects at the Salton Sea—enough to meet nearly half the current annual global demand of 300,000 metric tons.

Berkshire Hathaway Energy, which has operated 10 of the 11 plants next to the Salton Sea for the last 40 years, will start building its testing facility this spring. Controlled Solutions Technology and Energy Source Minerals also are working on pilot projects for sustainable commercial recovery of lithium. All three projects are backed by state and federal grants to replace traditional mining.

If any or all the extraction processes become commercially viable, local cathode manufacturers would also be needed before batteries could be mass produced there.

“It’s a heck of a challenge” to commercially produce battery-grade lithium from the Salton Sea, Jonathan Weisgall, Berkshire Hathaway Energy vice president of government affairs, said during a recent meeting of the state-established Lithium Valley Commission . “But if we ship everything overseas, we haven’t accomplished much,” he added.

Requested funds

The county’s funding requests include: $500 million from the state to develop lithium battery reuse and recycling. A massive number of used batteries taken out of electric vehicles are coming down the road. These batteries, which often have 80% of their useful life left, can be used for energy storage but are considered insufficient to continue powering EVs. $100 million under pending legislation by Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia (D-Imperial Valley) to establish a four-year polytechnic university. $5 million from the state to support the development of a blanket Environmental Impact Report that would cover a new 8,000-12,000 acre industrial zone where a range of activities can be conducted from commercial lithium extraction to battery manufacturing, without seeking individual permits. Last month, the county requested outside bids for the creation of a programmatic and specific Environment Impact Report for extraction and plant developments. $1 billion request to the Biden Administration for rail developments to transport the lithium and other battery-related products out of the county. $500 million from the federal government for transmission upgrades. The state budget provides incentives for lithium production.