Overview

DOE prepared this EA to assess the potential for impacts to the human and natural environment of its proposed action to provide financial assistance to Chemetall under a cooperative agreement. DOE's objective is to support the development of the Electric Drive Vehicles (EDV) industry in an effort to reduce the United States' consumption of petroleum, in addition to stimulating the United States' economy. More specifically, DOE's objective is to accelerate the development and production of various EDV systems by building or increasing domestic manufacturing capacity for advanced automotive batteries, their components, recycling facilities, and EDV components. This work will enable market introduction of various electric vehicle technologies by lowering the cost of battery packs, batteries, and electric propulsion systems for EDVs through high-volume manufacturing. Under the terms of the cooperative agreement, DOE is to provide approximately 45 percent of the funding for Chemetall to establish a new 5,000 metric tons per year lithium hydroxide plant at an existing Chemetall facility in Kings Mountain, North Carolina and to upgrade and expand an existing lithium brine production facility and an existing lithium carbonate plant in Silver Peak, Nevada. The Kings Mountain site is located in an industrial area directly south of Kings Mountain, in Cleveland County, North Carolina, and serves as the headquarters for Chemetall. The site is located on 720 acres, with the operations concentrated within an approximately 20-acre developed area that is centrally located within the property. Production currently includes a specialty lithium manufacturing plant, which produces various lithium salt products by reacting lithium carbonate with different materials to produce lithium bromide, lithium chloride, and lithium aluminate. The proposed project would expand operations at the facility by adding a lithium hydroxide plant. The project at Kings Mountain would create approximately 19 permanent jobs. The Silver Peak site is approximately 15,000 acres. Chemetall uses the Silver Peak site for the production of lithium carbonate, and to a lesser degree, lithium hydroxide from lithium-bearing brines that are pumped from a well field. Silver Peak is the only major source of lithium carbonate in the United States. The proposed project would rework the existing brine field's production system, rework and expand the capacity of the existing brine evaporation pond system, and refurbish the existing lithium carbonate plant. All the improvements would occur within Chemetall's patented mining claims. The project at Silver Peak would create approximately 14 permanent jobs. Chemetall may also construct a geothermal power plant in the western portion of its Silver Peak unpatented mining claims. However, that action would be evaluated separate EAs prepared by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and is not part of this EA. The environmental analysis identified that the most notable changes, although minor, to result from Chemetall's proposed project would occur in the following areas: air quality, solid and hazardous wastes, and human health and safety for both Kings Mountain and Silver Peak, with the exception of solid and hazardous waste for Silver Peak, which was negligible. Additionally for Silver Peak, minor impacts would occur to groundwater, transportation and traffic. No significant environmental effects were identified in analyzing the potential consequences of these changes.

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