The Trump administration appears to be fast-tracking an Australian company鈥檚 lithium project in southeastern Oregon.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management last Wednesday published its environmental assessment of the McDermitt lithium exploration project, which has been in the works since 2022. It鈥檚 giving the public until March 31 to read the 103-page assessment and .
The assessment says the project will begin 鈥渋mmediately upon federal and state authorization.鈥�
BLM spokesperson Larisa Bogardus acknowledged in an email that the public comment period is shorter than typical, but added 鈥渢here are no specific time frames regarding public involvement.鈥�
The agency鈥檚 assessment outlines the full scope of Jindalee Resources鈥� plans to search the area for lithium, a highly valuable metal used in batteries. Under its subsidiary, HiTech Minerals, Jindalee aims to bore up to 800 feet into the earth across 7,200 acres in Malheur County, near the Oregon-Nevada border.
The region鈥檚 famed McDermitt Caldera 鈥� formed by an ancient supervolcano 鈥� is thought to have some of the . A British Columbia-based company, Lithium Americas, operates a lithium mine on the Nevada side of the caldera. No mine has officially been proposed in Oregon, though Jindalee Resources鈥� exploration could be the first step toward building one.
The announcement comes as the Trump administration . Through executive orders and other directives, President Donald Trump has called on federal agencies like the Department of the Interior, which manages the BLM, to fast-track resource extraction projects like mining, drilling and logging.
This push for more U.S. resource extraction comes as new tariffs, including some advanced by the Biden administration, .
The BLM announced in that it would be conducting an environmental analysis of Jindalee鈥檚 proposal. It gave the public over a month to provide 鈥渟hare information, knowledge and concerns that can be considered in BLM鈥檚 analysis.鈥� The agency hasn鈥檛 published new information on the project since then.
BLM spokesperson Bogardus said comments generated in 2023 were considered when developing the draft the agency released last week.
