James J. A. Blair

If your position is that next-gen industries can and should be built responsibly to avoid worsening the harms of a legacy of extractive development in places abandoned by oil/gas/coal/etc., you should take a keen interest in Lithium Valley.

You get at most one shot at getting these things right.

The county extended the deadline to submit public comments to April 17: imperialcounty.org/lvsppeir/

Read the full report and complementary fact sheets here: www.ccvhealth.org/reports/powe...

Imperial Valley has an opportunity to lead the way in renewable energy development. That leadership must begin with enforceable mitigation standards, transparent accounting of impacts, and measurable community benefits.

• Increased heavy-duty truck corridors through already overburdened communities
• Improper conclusion of consultation pursuant to AB 52 with insufficient mitigation for Tribal Cultural Resources

Read the full report and complementary fact sheets here:

• Insufficient cumulative impact assessment
• Estimates for water supply, energy demand, VMT, GHG emissions, and solid waste production not updated to reflect extended development timeline (10 years missing from the PEIR)
• Infrastructure planning deferred to unfunded future entities

Our report identifies several structural concerns in the revised draft Specific Plan, including:

• Streamlining of industrial uses beyond lithium and geothermal (e.g. data centers, anaerobic digestion facilities, green hydrogen and hydrogen fuel stations, and recycling centers)

I had the privilege of leading the research and writing of this new report commissioned by Comite Civico Del Valle and The POWER Coalition that analyzes Imperial County’s Draft Lithium Valley Specific Plan and its environmental health implications.

www.ccvhealth.org/reports/powe...

Ugh, same here! Just couldn’t get myself to do this any earlier.

Action Network petition: Cancel ChatGPT Edu. Invest in Humans. In February 2025, the California State University system announced a $17 million contract with OpenAI to provide ChatGPT Edu to all faculty, staff, and students on its 22 CSU campuses as part of a larger “AI-Empowered University” initiative. This is the largest contract ever established between a university system and an artificial intelligence company. Despite the name, ChatGPT Edu is not educational technology. It is a general-purpose chatbot that is not designed, trained, or optimized for education. Beyond its privacy and security features, ChatGPT Edu is identical to the free online version of ChatGPT. ChatGPT Edu does not use reliable peer-reviewed sources to answer students' questions and is indifferent to whether its answers are correct. Experts argue that ChatGPT Edu is harmful to academic working conditions, diminishes the quality of teaching and learning, introduces new forms of discrimination, and is dangerous to students' mental health. Recent polling shows that CSU students share these concerns, with the majority of students expressing that they are worried about the negative impacts of generative AI on human creativity and the environment.

Cal State University’s deal with OpenAI — providing ChatGPT to all faculty, students, and staff — will expire in June 2026. Amid the prospect of layoffs in the CSU, we’re asking the chancellor not to renew this costly and demoralizing contract.

Link below and anyone can sign:

The 1956 Lumbee Act was amended this week, concluding a decades-long effort to have Congress strike discriminatory language that subjected Lumbees to nearly 70 years of partial federal recognition. But no longer. The Lumbee Tribe of NC is now *fully* recognized by the US—the 575th Native Nation.

EcoJustice Radio EcoJustice Radio presents environmental and climate stories from a social justice frame, featuring voices not necessarily heard on mainstream media....

It was a pleasure to be interviewed for this excellent EcoJustice Radio podcast episode that focuses on geothermal lithium development at the Salton Sea. It includes critical insights from community partners as well.

socal350.org/ecojustice-r...

I have been wanting something like this for so long because of the missed opportunities in many Community Benefits Agreements to date. Feel lucky so many people are committed to making a better world and laying the groundwork for it with this sort of solid research.

Building Community Power In-Depth Report Analyzes Community Benefits Agreements Across the Global Energy Supply Chain

Our new report examines a wide range of detailed case studies of communities involved in community benefits agreement (CBA) negotiations.

open.substack.com/pub/climatec...

New report on community benefit agreements!!! It was super fun to work with this amazing team and with @cplusc.bsky.social on a timely and important topic.

Who should benefit from the energy transition? Communities? Workers? Billionaires?

As federal posture toward a clean energy supply chain shifts rapidly, our new report shows that communities are turning to community benefit agreements (CBAs) to gain control over their futures. 👇

Fighting for Fair Development Community Benefits Agreements as a Strategy for Making the Energy Transition More Equitable in the United States

This StoryMap outlines some key case studies from the report: storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/a860...

Excited to share our new report for @cplusc.bsky.social

Building Community Power: Community Benefits Agreements Across the Global Energy Supply Chain

This is practically a book’s worth of research and writing. An interactive CBA toolkit is also forthcoming. Grateful to work with such a great team!

Check out our new report!

The Devil Is In The Details: Environmental Health Impacts Of The Hell’s Kitchen Lithium and Power Project

ccvhealth.org/hells-kitche...

OP-ED: Lithium Valley must empower communities and tribes - Calexico Chronicle Dr. James Blair of Cal Polytechnic University, Pomona weighs in on how Lithium Valley must empower communities and tribes.

California’s clean energy goals will only succeed if they include the communities and tribes most impacted. By embracing stronger mitigation measures, Lithium Valley could power a clean energy future that also empowers local residents.

calexicochronicle.com/2025/09/15/o...

Name added.

Two copies of a book titled Extraction on a chess table.

Copies just arrived and can’t wait to read *Extraction* by the brilliant @triofrancos.bsky.social

Salvaging Empire by James J. A. Blair | Paperback | Cornell University Press Salvaging Empire probes the historical roots and current predicaments of a twenty-first century settler colony seeking to control an uncertain future through resource management and environmental scie...

My book *Salvaging Empire* and many other great reads are on sale for 50% off this week if you order from the @cornellupress.bsky.social website with the code 095000 today through Friday, June 27th!

www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...

Such a great album!