Thanks, Coeruleus, for those comments.  I don't want to get locked on to the reference to "sagebrush", but since that is one of the arrows in the sling for the "environmental activists" from Washington State that are focused on upsetting the apple cart viz a viz LAC and Thacker Pass I will post the link below regarding the ecological importance of sagebrush to the Western US States.  The article also touches on the inter-relationship of the sage brush to the sage brush grouse, also another weapon in the tool box of the "environmental activists" that they are attempting to use against LAC.

Just consider the article as a resource for information that may be of use later in following any battle of LAC with the environmentalists along the pathway to a successful transition to completion of the Thacker Pass mining site.  I suspect that the attacks on LAC will not cease once Tacker Pass is a reality and production starts.

Celebrating Sagebrush: The West's Most Important Native Plant | Audubon