How California Can Rewrite the Extraction Business Model and Boost Salton Sea Communities

Guest comment written by

Silvia Paz

Silvia Paz is the executive director of Alianza Coachella Valley and served as chair of the California Lithium Valley Commission.

California is at a political and fiscal crossroads. It must decide whether to rewrite the extractive business model to benefit affected communities, or to continue with the traditional model that causes unmitigated environmental and economic injustices.

The Salton Sea region is facing economic pressure to become a significant domestic supplier of lithium, posing greater challenges to lower-income communities that already face significant inequality—yet contribute so much to prosperity and the quality of life of others. Without meaningful investment, these communities will be left behind as their needs are sidelined in the rush to develop lithium.

This is an all-too-real story for the low-wage farm workers and tourism workers who call this region home. Growing up in a small mobile home park near the Salton Sea, I saw the economic and health challenges my family and neighbors faced. I witnessed the persistence of farm workers toiling in the fields to produce food for other people’s families and communities left vulnerable to the impact of dust storms, power outages and extreme heat.

I found it hard to face the reality that these resilient workers came home with so little, even though they gave so much.

I am not asking for a favor or charity. I’m asking that our communities get their fair share because the future of California is inextricably linked to the future of the Salton Sea.

That means investing in Salton Sea communities benefits the state — and not just gifts or one-time funding that can be stripped away during challenging budget years. This year, state leaders have a chance to put a climate bond on the November ballot, which would give voters an opportunity to pass important environmental protections and clean energy projects. This connection could benefit all areas of the state, also providing $400 million to the Salton Sea region and $15 million to create a preserve.

While residents here continue to endure high levels of poverty and health disparities, agricultural production has expanded and new economic opportunities have emerged. Both the Coachella and Imperial valleys rank among the state’s top agricultural areas, with production in Riverside County worth $1.5 billion and production in Imperial County two years ago worth $2.6 billion.

The advent of lithium and other rare earth mining technologies only increases the region’s potential contribution.

As the water in the Colorado River dries up and the Imperial Valley’s legal share is mandated elsewhere, where is the commitment to address the impacts of decisions made in Sacramento and Washington, DC?

The 2003 Quantification Settlement Agreement strengthened water resilience for the Southern California coast by reducing pressure on the Delta. California’s water supply from the Colorado River depends on the Salton Sea, and that means its health should be a key statewide priority.

Water reductions also reduce air quality across the region. Emissions of hydrogen sulfide — the smell of rotten eggs — have reached as far as Los Angeles and Orange County, making the Salton Sea an air quality problem for all of Southern California.

In addition to our role in providing water and food, experts believe that our region has the world’s highest concentration of lithium contained in geothermal brine. California could become a competitive source of lithium that could satisfy more than a third of global demand, provide a mineral considered critical to national security, and ensure a fair transition to clean energy for workers in legacy industries .

California has an opportunity to make long-awaited investments in the communities that nourish and empower not only this state, but the entire nation.