The U.S. Needs Lithium — but Washington Makes It Next to Impossible to Mine

A mile beneath the arid, orange crust of Green River, Utah, flows a key ingredient in batteries: lithium. It’s trapped in brine, left over from an ancient marine bay. Extracting the critical mineral is technologically doable in 2026 — but it is a political and legal labyrinth.

Bruce Richardson, CEO of A1 Lithium, set out in 2017 to extract the element without wreaking havoc on the environment. He planned to use direct lithium extraction (DLE), which pumps lithium-rich brine from the earth, pulls the element from the water, then shoots the now-lithium-free liquid back to the depths.