In one of the driest state’s driest basins, two lithium companies are fighting over what underpins the mining industry in Nevada: water.

The Nevada Supreme Court heard arguments on Wednesday in a case questioning whether the nation’s only operating lithium mine can hold on to all of the water it’s permitted to pump — without actually pumping all of it.

“We ask you to remember the public asset of water and the preciousness of that resource,” said Paul Taggart, a water rights attorney representing Pure Energy, a company angling to obtain water rights in Esmeralda County for its own lithium mine. “No one should be allowed to hoard that public resource to exclude others.”

The legal challenge was brought by Pure Energy, which has been unsuccessful in securing the 2,500 acre-feet of water rig

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