Five days after the U.S. Energy Department announced a $700 million conditional loan to an Australian mining company pursuing a lithium project in Nevada, federal land managers cited it for trespassing within the habitat of an endangered flower.
The Bureau of Land Management said in Wednesday's trespass notice to Ioneer Rhyolite Ridge LLC it has confirmed land was disturbed within the designated critical habitat for Tiehm’s buckwheat, a 6-inch-tall (15-centimeter-tall) desert wildflower with yellow blooms.
