ESMERALDA COUNTY, Nev.— The Center for Biological Diversity, the California Botanic Garden and the Western Shoshone Defense Project will hold a virtual press conference Monday to discuss and critique the Rhyolite Ridge Mine draft environmental impact statement, highlighting how it would spell extinction for Tiehm’s buckwheat and severely harm Indigenous communities and cultural values.

Tiehm’s buckwheat is a rare wildflower, protected under the Endangered Species Act, that lives on one site in Esmeralda County. The proposed Rhyolite Ridge Lithium Mine would destroy its habitat and surround it with an industrial open-pit mining operation. Experts will discuss how this would irrevocably degrade the flower’s habitat and lead it to likely extinction, in violation of the Endangered Species Act. Reports on dust deposition, pit wall stability and hydrology will be presented.

Also joining will be a representative of the Western Shoshone Defense Project, who will discuss the mine proposal’s threats to the cultural values and landscapes of the traditional homelands of the Shoshone people.

What: Press conference where experts will discuss the Rhyolite Ridge Mine draft environmental impact statement.

When: Noon, PST, Monday, June 3.

Where: Virtual on Zoom.

Who: Patrick Donnelly, Great Basin director at the Center for Biological Diversity; Naomi Fraga, Ph.D., conservation director at the California Botanic Garden; and Fermina Stevens, director of the Western Shoshone Defense Project.

Register: Please register ahead of time here.