Potential impacts of proposed lithium extraction on biodiversity and conservation in the contiguous United States

To address climate change, the United States is offering consumers incentives to purchase electric vehicles containing domestically derived lithium batteries. New extraction facilities required to supply this lithium may have environmental impacts, including impacts on biodiversity. To reveal potential impacts, we mapped 72 proposed lithium extraction sites across the contiguous United States and overlaid these with data for species occurrences, conservation value, habitat, and land management designations. We found that potential impacts vary by site. The abundance of lithium resources in the United States, combined with large differences in potential impacts among sites, suggests that decision-makers may be able to guide lithium extraction to the least impactful sites first. To aid this process, we recommend field-based reconnaissance of proposed lithium extraction sites, and a cumulative analysis of potential impacts on biodiversity in order to contextualize this activity within the larger scope of land use and climate change.