The Great Amargosa Valley Dilemma

Water, Wealth, & Wisdom

The fine folk of Amargosa Valley have spoken, and they ain’t whispering no more. With voices hoarse from repeating common sense to an indifferent government, they gathered again to plead their case: keep the mines out and the water in.

For those unacquainted with the latest chapter in the eternal saga of progress versus preservation, the matter comes down to whether Washington should slap a 20-year ban on mining across nearly 270,000 acres near the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge. The Department of the Interior, after much dawdling under the Biden administration, finally agreed to ponder it—but as anyone who’s dealt with bureaucracy knows, a ponderin’ government is as convenient as a broken pump in the desert.

The people of Amargosa aren’t asking for much—just the continued existence of their water supply. A hundred people packed into the community center, each eager to remind the government that the Amargosa River is not some nameless trickle but the lifeblood of their town. It has watered generations, and they’d like it to keep doing so rather than seeing it vanish into the insatiable maw of a mining operation.

The opposition to mining isn’t some ragtag bunch of idealists with a vendetta against economic prosperity. Quite the opposite—the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe, town boards, county commissions, conservationists, state and federal lawmakers, and even a few mining claim holders have thrown their weight behind the ban.

When even the would-be diggers say, “You know what, let’s leave this one alone,” it might be time to take the hint.

Yet the fight is far from won. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum has been making noise about “suspending, revising, or rescinding” conservation policies. It’s precisely the kind of language that makes these desert dwellers happier than a summer rain shower.

With federal priorities shifting like dunes in a storm, the folks of Amargosa can only hope that the Trump administration—whether friend or foe—will heed their call. Here’s hoping Washington still reads news stories.