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Construction at Lithium Americas’ Thacker Pass mine near Orovada on March 18, 2025.

Settlement reached in messy Thacker Pass water dispute

The developer of Nevada's second lithium mine and a private landowner have reached a settlement following a flurry of lawsuits and appeals over water rights the company says are critical to the construction of the mine.

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Construction at Lithium Americas' Thacker Pass Workforce Hub in Winnemucca.

‘Beholden to the mine’: Does rural Nevada depend on mines’ goodwill to foot hidden costs?

While coming large-scale lithium mines and their future employees will bring revenue and jobs to rural Nevada communities hungry for an economic jolt, they’ll also bring growing pains. Rural counties will be on the hook to come up with the money to fund critical infrastructure and other expenses — but, with proceeds from the mines not reaching the counties until production is underway, those same counties have limited ways to prepare or pay for expenses in advance.

The Walker River flows through the Walker River Paiute Reservation on its way to Walker Lake.

Trump's anti-DEI push suspends $20M grant for a Nevada tribe's water infrastructure

On March 7, the Nevada Clean Energy Fund (NCEF) — the lead applicant on the grant — discovered it could no longer access the $20 million fund. Three days later on March 10, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced he was cancelling more than $1.7 billion worth of “DEI and Environmental Justice” grants, as part of the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) efforts to cut government spending and compliance with Trump’s executive order to eliminate DEI across the government.

Panaca Elementary School on Monday, Oct. 14, 2019. (Jeff Scheid/The Nevada Independent).

How $416 million in federal funds could help boost rural broadband access in Nevada

Nevada is set to receive $416 million to build out broadband networks that target the least-served areas first. It’s a huge tranche of funds — the single largest broadband investment in U.S. history — that has accelerated the state’s timeline for ensuring every Nevadan has access to affordable, high-speed internet. The grant is expected to close the gap for the nearly 100,000 Nevadans and Tribal natives in the state without access to standard-speed internet and boost broadband capacity across every county in the state.

How rural Nevada became the next battleground for the ‘Big Lie’

In an August 2021 email to an Elko County deputy district attorney, Steninger laid out the group’s interest in having “the rural counties … announce plans to shift to paper ballots,” which they believed would make the rest of the state “obliged to follow suit.”

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