There is no attempt in the article to, in a rational way, put the possible mine impacts in the context of the bigger picture of US energy consumption and the irredeemable climate damage the U.S. causes as the world's second biggest CO2 polluter. If you are going to hyperfocus on a tiny sector of the negative impacts of a new energy source it must be in the context of destruction caused by the alternatives and the wider impacts and trade offs, at a global scale, of 'preserving' a small patch of Nevada scrub land that has for 150 years been trampled and ecologically made over by cows.
One of the most galling bits of the article is the one sided exaggeration of the potential impacts of the mine on the water resource (which currently supplies a few cow watering troughs, and will under the mine plan continue to do so). This in Nevada where agricultural and urban water consumption (think fountains on the Vegas strip, swimming pools and etc.) coupled with climate change induced drought is collapsing the water table all over the state. Not to mention ranching operations which have polluted water resources all over the state (as consultant I was part of a watershed restoration project in British Columbia trying to reverse E Coli and cryptosporidium pollution of a city water supply by a ranching cow calf operation like the one described in the article - they've had similar problems in Nevada).
Direct lithium extraction is held out as the 'clean' alternative to the LAC lithium clay mine (though it is more like a gravel pit than a hard rock mine) but DLE is pie in the sky and will be for another 10 years at least. The most advanced DLE project in the world (Standard Lithium's) is only at the pilot stage producing a few tonnes of lithium/month. None of it has made its way into the lithium supply chain for use in the EV, power grid storage, smartphone, laptop and hand tool batteries, grease, glass etc. etc. At least a dozen attempts around the world to make DLE work have failed including several in the Salton Sea ( itself a man made patch of pollution). The DLE techies will some day get their act together but should we just keep CO2 polluting and heating up the climate while waiting for them to make it work?
Meanwhile the US will continue to buy 99% of their lithium from China, Argentina, Chile and Australia. The US, and Europe are very adept, and shameless, at offshoring the negative resource extraction impacts that sustain their rich societies.