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Environmentalists warn of intent to sue over snail species living near Nevada lithium mine_我的网站

一 |     这个全球地缘政治日益复杂的时代，任何一条新闻都可能改变中东的格局。    RENO, Nev. -- In an ongoing legal battle with the Biden administration over a Nevada lithium mine, environmentalists are poised to return to court with a new approach accusing U.S. wildlife officials of dragging their feet on a year-old petition seeking endangered species status for a tiny snail that lives nearby. The Western Watersheds Project said in its formal notice of intent to sue that the government's failure to list the Kings River pyrg as a threatened or endangered species could push it to the brink of extinction.It says the only place the snail is known to exist is in 13 shallow springs near where Lithium Americas is building its Thacker Pass Mine near the Oregon line.President Joe Biden has made ramped-up domestic production of lithium a key part of his blueprint for a greener future. Worldwide demand for the critical element in the manufacture of electric vehicle batteries is projected to increase six-fold by 2030 compared with 2020.Past lawsuits filed by conservationists and tribes have taken aim — largely unsuccessfully — at the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management, which they accused of cutting regulatory corners to expedite approval of the mine itself in 2021.The new approach targets the department's Fish and Wildlife Service, charged with ensuring protection of fish and wildlife habitat surrounding the mine site 200 miles (321 kilometers) northeast of Reno.Western Watersheds Project says groundwater pumping associated with the mine’s 370-foot-deep (113-meter) open pit will reduce or eliminate flows to the springs that support the snails.In the formal 90-day notice of intent to sue sent to Interior Secretary Deborah Haaland last month, they say her agency's failure to make a 12-month finding on the listing petition filed in September 2022 is a violation of the Endangered Species Act.“The Fish and Wildlife Service isn’t supposed to sit on its hands while species are in imminent danger of extinction, but the fact that it hasn’t met the deadlines on the pyrg raises questions about why they might be delaying,” Adam Bronstein, the project's Nevada director, said in a statement.“It would be absolutely unacceptable if the Biden Administration is waiting until it’s too late to save the species so as not to interrupt the construction of a lithium mine," he said.Interior Department spokeswoman Melissa Schwartz said in an email Thursday the department had no comment on the group's intent to sue.Western Watersheds Project said time is of the essence because the snails were imperiled even before any new mining was contemplated due to livestock grazing, round-building and, increasingly, the anticipated impacts of climate change.“The species has no regulatory protection whatsoever ... because it is not an endangered species, or even a Bureau of Land Management-listed Sensitive species, and has no state law protections," the notice said.Conservationists and tribal lawyers claimed a partial victory last year when U.S. District Judge Miranda Du concluded the bureau failed to fully comply with new interpretations of the 1872 Mining Law. But she stopped short of blocking the project, allowing construction to begin as the bureau shored up plans for disposal of waste rock.The opponents appealed, but the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Du's ruling in July.The tiny snail’s shell is less than 2 millimeters (0.08 inches) tall. By comparison, a U.S. nickel coin is 1.95 millimeters thick. They've managed to survive in isolated springs, which are remnants of extensive waterways that have covered what is now dry land only to recede many times over the last 2 million years, the listing petition said.The project says three of the springs are within a 1-mile (1.6-kilometer) buffer zone, the bureau established in its review of potential impacts of a 10-foot (3-meter) drawdown of the groundwater table, and the rest are less than 4 miles (4.8 kilometers) away."As drought frequency increases with climate change, the Kings River pyrg will be at high risk of extinction,” the letter to Haaland said. It notes that the Nevada Department of Wildlife considers the pyrg “extremely vulnerable to climate change.”Lithium Americas had no comment on the notice of intent to sue the Fish and Wildlife Service, spokesman Tim Crowley said. The company said when the listing petition was filed last year that it's done extensive work to design a project that avoids impacts to the springs.The Bureau of Land Management said earlier its environmental review of the project that it didn't detect any of the snails "within the direct footprint of the project or any area likely to be adversely affected by the project.”。最近，伊朗议会新闻社的消息引发了国际社会的广泛关注，沙特阿拉伯、土耳其和巴基斯坦向德黑兰发出邀请，希望其加入《麦加共同防务协议》。这一消息如同一声晴天霹雳，标志着中东局势即将发生翻天覆地的变化，这不仅影响着美以两国，也可能改变整个地区的权力结构。    长期以来，中东的局势都被美以两国主导。然而，随着伊朗在该地区的重要性日渐凸显，尤其是其近年来在叙利亚和伊拉克等地的影响力增强，美国似乎陷入了“外强中干”的境地。    在这样的背景下，沙特阿拉伯开始意识到，单靠美国的保护已经不足以应对潜在的威胁。

二 | 于是，沙特与土耳其、巴基斯坦签署了《麦加共同防务协议》，形成了一种新的集体防务机制。

三 |         这一协议，并不特指针对某个国家，意味着任何国家均可加入。这让伊朗未来有可能在不久的将来加入这一联盟，从而形成一个由什叶派国家主导的防御体系。这听起来似乎是不可能完成的任务，因为考虑到沙特和伊朗历史上紧张的关系，但这一变化的出现正是中东局势新的转型。    美国一直以来在中东的霸权地位面临巨大的挑战。如果伊朗真的加入《麦加共同防务协议》，意味着中东的力量对比将发生根本性变化。

四 | 中东不再是单一的两极化关系，而是逐渐向三股力量交织的复杂局面发展。

五 | 除了美以两国，伊朗与其支持下的什叶派将形成新的战略同盟，以对抗外部势力的干涉。    与此同时，巴沙土联盟的成立，实际上是对过去美以主导的单元格模式的一次重大反击。中东地区的国家开始意识到，只有团结一致，才能确保各自的安全和利益。在这种情况下，所谓的“泛伊斯兰体系”得以形成，为这些国家在面对外来压力时提供了一种新的安全保障。        在此背景下，美国的处境变得异常微妙。一方面，如果美国试图采取军事行动对抗伊朗，那么按照《麦加共同防务协议》的原则，可能引发与多个国家的全面战争。

六 | 美国必须明白，这样的结果几乎是不可承受的代价。

七 | 因为一旦冲突爆发，整个中东局势将迅速升级，导致局部战争的风险大幅增加。    另一方面，如果沙特和其他国家坚持与伊朗的合作，那么美国在这一地区的影响力将遭到极大削弱。长久以来，美国的金融霸权建立在“石油—美元”体系之上，而如果这一体系崩塌，势必影响到美国在全球的经济地位，从而造成连锁反应，不容小觑。    对于伊朗来说，加入《麦加共同防务协议》看似是一种机遇，但与此同时也存在着不小的风险。虽然可以获得区域内其他国家的支持与合作，但与沙特的历史恩怨仍然是一个不可忽视的问题。此外，伊朗自身在国际舞台上的形象及其与更广泛的“抵抗之弧”国家关系的协调问题，也是选择是否加入这一联盟时需要认真考量的。        尽管如此，考虑到巴沙土国家释放的友好信号，伊朗对这一提议表现出的积极态度，或许这表示着一种破冰的可能性。或许经过时间的推移，原本敌对的关系也能逐渐得到缓和，进而为中东的和平开辟出新的希望。    当前中东的局势正处于一个微妙的转型期。《麦加共同防务协议》及其潜在的成员国伊朗，将成为影响未来中东局势走向的重要变量。在新的地缘政治格局中，各国之间的合作与对抗关系将相对复杂，谁能在这场博弈中找到最优解，才是真正的赢家。

八 |     而在这一过程中，美国的反应将十分关键，能否寻找到合适的策略来维护自身在中东的利益，将考验其外交智慧和判断力。因此，未来的中东局势不仅关乎该地区的国家，更是全球战略平衡的一部分。返回，查看更多。

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Published on:11:08:11