JDubski came across following article - https://www.deseret.com/indepth/2021/4/6/22345917/lithium-mines-electric-vehicles-disrupting-life-in-one-small-nevada-community-elon-musk-thacker-pass about the community in Thacker Pass. Not, that I want to take his credit for finding the article, but after recent wave of teasing of my favourite follower on TOB, I just don’t want to be too sentimental there :-).

To some extent, I do understand the pain of those communities around Thacker Pass. No matter what LAC has promised in the environmental study, their life-style is going to be heavily  impacted and possibly destroyed by some unforeseen event during the lifetime of the mine. The prospect, that in about 50 years, their life will eventually return back to normal is not really encouraging.

However, that is pretty much nothing, comparing to what has happened to the city of Most. Part of the city was demolished, due to a mining activity. Residents were moved, just a church was moved 800 meters to its current location ( details https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Assumption_of_the_Virgin_Mary_(Most)#Transport_of_the_building) 

The point is, while looking at the map today, one would not recognize, that the place was a coal mine (well apart of the fact, that another active mine is nearby), the mine was transformed to a lake. It is pretty much impossible to open a pitch nowadays and not to damage someone, but should the society decide, that all we want is Lithium and EVs, then inevitably the local ranchers have a bad luck. The benefit for the society heavily overweight the damage caused to the locals. That does not mean, that I have changed my opinion about EVs :-).