Three years after Gov. Gavin Newsom stood at the edge of the Salton Sea and predicted a lithium boom for California, the promised gold rush in Imperial County has yet to materialize.
The area, once branded “Lithium Valley” by state officials eager to tout California as a future hub for electric vehicle battery production, remains largely undeveloped. Legal battles, funding shortfalls and technical hurdles have combined to slow projects that were supposed to be well underway by now.
The southern shore of the Salton Sea sits atop some of the richest lithium deposits in the world, locked within geothermal brine deep underground. Lithium is a key ingredient in batteries for electric vehicles and consumer electronics, and state leaders have long hoped the region could reduce America’s reliance on foreign sources of the mineral. But turning that potential into production has proven far more complicated than anticipated.
The most advanced of the proposed projects, Controlled Thermal Resources’ Hell’s Kitchen development, has run into repeated legal setbacks. Opponents sued, arguing the company failed to adequately study the project’s effects on water supplies and air quality. Last month, a state appeals court agreed, ordering Imperial County to redo portions of its environmental review.
Luis Olmedo, executive director of Comite Civico del Valle, one of the groups behind the lawsuit, said the ruling confirms concerns residents have raised for years.
“Do we have enough water to support these projects over the long term?” Olmedo said in a statement. “What happens to our communities if Colorado River supplies are reduced? And what happens to our air as less water reaches the Salton Sea? The Court of Appeal made clear that those questions deserve credible and well supported answers.”
A spokesperson for Controlled Thermal Resources said the company is weighing its legal options and declined further comment because litigation is ongoing.
Newsom’s office did not respond directly to questions about the delays, instead referring inquiries to the California Energy Commission. A commission spokesperson acknowledged progress has lagged behind expectations.
“Though efforts to develop the resources have been slower than anticipated — largely due to global lithium markets and prices — progress is being made, with developers securing funding to advance projects,” said Niki Woodard, the commission’s communications director.
Imperial County Supervisor Ryan Kelley said the delays reflect how novel and difficult this type of mining really is.
“It’s not an easy thing to work with,” Kelley said. “It’s a hot resource with a lot of solids in it, and that’s why the lithium is there. So we’re still very optimistic and encouraged by the companies that are still proceeding.”
A vision built on promise
In 2023, Newsom traveled to the Salton Sea to declare the region a future global center for lithium extraction and battery manufacturing, one he said would help power the nation’s shift away from gasoline-powered vehicles.
“We’ve been all-in on Lithium Valley, building up a global hub for clean energy and making sure that local communities benefit from this once-in-a-generation opportunity,” Newsom said at the time.
The Salton Sea itself is an unusual and volatile landscape — a hypersaline lake surrounded by mud pots, small volcanic domes and underground reservoirs of scalding, mineral-laden water. Geothermal plants already dot the area, converting steam from those aquifers into electricity. According to the California Energy Commission, those same aquifers hold the highest lithium concentration of any geothermal brine on Earth. A federal study by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimated there is enough lithium in the region to build 375 million electric vehicle batteries — more than all the cars currently on U.S. roads.
Companies hoping to tap that resource say their process, which draws lithium from the brine in a closed-loop system, would be far less damaging than traditional hard-rock mining overseas or the sprawling evaporation ponds used in South America.
State officials embraced the idea early on. In 2021, California formed the Lithium Valley Commission to study the economic and environmental questions surrounding extraction. The following year, Newsom joined then-President Joe Biden to promote the effort and pledged more than $100 million toward research and development.
Legal fights slow momentum
As the state’s enthusiasm grew, so did scrutiny from environmental and community groups. Hell’s Kitchen, which is designed to produce up to 300,000 metric tons of lithium carbonate annually and generate nearly 50 megawatts of geothermal power, became the focal point of that pushback.
Comite Civico del Valle and Earthworks, a mining watchdog organization, filed suit in 2024, contending that the project’s environmental review failed to adequately examine air quality, water consumption, hazardous waste and effects on tribal cultural sites.
A judge initially sided with Controlled Thermal Resources in January 2025, ruling the company had satisfied state environmental law. Company CEO Rodney Colwell told CalMatters at the time that construction was expected to begin soon, though he acknowledged the litigation had already delayed financing and pushed back the timeline by at least a year.
That victory proved short-lived. In August, an appellate court partially reversed the earlier ruling, finding that the project’s environmental documents failed to demonstrate the Imperial Irrigation District could reliably supply water for the next 50 years, or account for potential reductions in Colorado River allocations. The court also found the review inadequate in addressing how water diversions could worsen air quality by further drying out the Salton Sea lakebed. Imperial County has been ordered to fix those gaps.
Jared Naimark, western senior mining manager for Earthworks, called the decision a significant victory for the community.
“They can’t just say, we’ll figure that out later,” Naimark said. “They need to show their work on where that water is going to come from now, and analyze the impacts of it.”
Tribal and community voices
Although the court found that the company had adequately consulted with tribal representatives, some Native leaders say they still want a stronger voice in decisions affecting sacred sites. Kwaaymii elder Carmen Lucas has called for protections around mud pots and other locations she says hold deep spiritual significance.
“From the beginning I have made it clear that I’m not opposed to development,” Lucas said. “I am asking that it be done in a balanced way.”
She is advocating to have the area known as the Southeast Lake Cahuilla Active Volcanic Cultural District added to the National Historic Register — a designation that wouldn’t necessarily block development but would formally recognize the region’s cultural importance.
“It’s clear to me that Washington is looking at California’s desert as a wasteland,” Lucas said. “There’s a beauty in the desert, and it opens the door for creativity and imagination.”
Imperial County officials say they are still reviewing the appellate court’s decision and determining next steps, according to Bari Bean, the county’s assistant executive officer.
Jobs on hold
While legal and regulatory questions play out, many local residents who trained for anticipated lithium jobs are still waiting. San Diego State University opened an $80 million science and technology facility in Imperial County specifically to prepare workers for the industry. University President Adela de la Torre warned in a recent commentary that without faster progress, graduates could find no jobs waiting for them.
Federal policy shifts have added to the uncertainty. The Trump administration has scaled back clean energy funding commitments, and Congress eliminated federal tax credits for electric vehicles last year — both of which cloud the long-term outlook for lithium demand.
Locally, the Imperial County Board of Supervisors has also stirred controversy with its plan for distributing future lithium tax revenue, which would direct the bulk of funds to the county government while splitting the remainder among cities based on population rather than proximity to lithium facilities.
Looking ahead
Despite the setbacks, Hell’s Kitchen has continued moving forward in other ways. The project last year received an extended federal permitting timeline under the Army Corps of Engineers’ FAST-41 program, designed to speed approval for critical infrastructure. In January, Controlled Thermal Resources also announced plans to supply geothermal power to data centers — a sign the company may be diversifying beyond lithium extraction to also serve the booming artificial intelligence sector. Shortly after, it merged with Plum Acquisition Corp. to become a publicly traded company, a move aimed at accelerating the first phase of construction.
Two other companies are also pursuing lithium projects in the region. Berkshire Hathaway’s CalEnergy, which already runs 10 geothermal plants near the Salton Sea, recently completed a pilot program extracting lithium and converting it into battery-grade compounds. The company plans to open a demonstration facility in Calipatria by the end of the year, running it through 2027 before deciding whether to build a full commercial operation capable of producing 90,000 metric tons of lithium annually — enough for roughly 11 million EV batteries.
EnergySource Minerals has also secured permits for a separate lithium facility, Project ATLiS, though the company has not released a construction timeline. CEO Eric Spomer said the project is progressing and could eventually generate significant tax revenue along with hundreds of construction and operations jobs.
“We are actively engaged with all stakeholders to move this project forward as quickly as possible,” Spomer said.
Meanwhile, Imperial County is working to create a broader planning framework — a Lithium Valley Specific Plan paired with a comprehensive environmental review — intended to streamline future development and avoid the piecemeal legal battles that have slowed projects so far.
“I wish we had something of the commodity being produced today, but if it’s going to be produced in the years to come, that’s a good thing,” Kelley said. “And it will be done in accordance with all of the rules and regulations of the state of California, which are not as easy as other states and other regions of the world.”
Original source: CalMatters
