Episode 24: Kelly Fuller with Western Watersheds Project

Welcome to the Audible Café!


Today, I’m sharing my conversation with Kelly Fuller, the
Energy and Mining Campaign Director for the Western Watersheds
Project, which has headquarters in a number of western
states. We talked about the proposed lithium mine in
Thacker Pass, Nevada, a project that WWP and others
oppose on the grounds that it will destroy an important ecosystem
and habitat for a number of unique species.


“Thacker Pass is critically important to
wildlife because it connects the Double H Mountains to
the Montana Mountains, and provides lower-elevation habitat that
greater sage-grouse and other wildlife need to survive the
winter,” Fuller has said. “It (the mine area) contains thousands
of acres of priority habitat management area (PHMA), the most
important type of greater sage-grouse habitat.”


Yet, the Bureau of Land Management that manages the land,
has exempted the mine from many legally required
sage-grouse protections. “The mine is sited in the
danger zone for sage-grouse leks in the Montana Mountains, one of
the most important sage-grouse strongholds in Nevada. Local
springs are the only place in the world where the Kings River
pyrg, a rare type of springsnail, are known to live. The mine
could also cut off a pronghorn migration corridor,” wrote Fuller
in response to the mine’s approval.


About Kelly Fuller


Prior to WWP, Kelly worked on energy campaigns in more than two
dozen states. Most recently she was Executive Director of Gila
Watershed Partnership of Arizona and The Protect Our Communities
Foundation. She has also worked for American Bird Conservatory,
Plains Justice, and Voyageurs National Park Association. Kelly is
perhaps best known for leading a 78-mile walk across the
California desert to protect public lands threatened by a
destructive transmission line project. In 2013, Kelly left
Washington, D.C. to return home to the west’s wide open spaces.
Since then she has spent as much time as possible outdoors,
enjoying America’s beautiful public lands.


Thanks again to Kelly Fuller, and thanks for listening to Audible
Café. If you’d like to get directly in touch with me, please
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SHOW RESOURCES


WesternWatersheds.org


Great Basin Resource Watch - gbrw.org


EarthWorks.org - campaignn for reforming the
1872 mining law


Article in Sierra Nevada Ally newspaper 1/15/21


https://sierranevadaally.org/2021/01/15/blm-approves-thacker-pass-lithium-mine/
 In reaction to the mine’s approval, Kelly Fuller, energy
and mining campaign director for the Western Watersheds Project
says the mine “will strip-mine thousands of acres of important
habitat for greater sage-grouse and other wildlife.”


Protect Thacker Pass website