Comments closed October 28
Stop limestone quarrying on Humboldt County public lands
Bureau of Land Management · Winnemucca District, NV
- What
- BLM may rewrite its land management plan to allow a limestone quarry on Nevada public lands.
- Where
- Winnemucca District, NV
- How much
- Surface disturbance from proposed open-pit mine: approximately 474 acres. Total project life including reclamation: approximately 43 years. VRM Class II acres proposed for downgrade to Class III: 872.5 acres.
- Decided
- Comments closed October 28, 2026. No decision document is on file yet.Date from Federal Register ↗, read September 30, 2026.
Where these four lines come from
- WhatOur plain-English read of the Federal Register 2026-19769 ↗. Check it against the agency’s own words under Case.
- WhereThe places and states the notice names, as PLAN read them.
- approximately 474 acres“of which approximately 474 acres of surface disturbance would occur” Preliminary Alternatives Open the document ↗
- approximately 43 years“The life of the proposed action is approximately 43 years” Preliminary Alternatives Open the document ↗
- 872.5 acres“the BLM would change the visual management classification of 872.5 acres from VRM Class II to VRM Class III” Preliminary Alternatives Open the document ↗
- DecidedOctober 28, 2026, from Federal Register, the document’s comment close date (federalregister.gov) ↗. Read September 30, 2026. The decision document is the one on file in PLAN’s record.
- Read from PLAN’s record November 13, 2026.
Justin Abernathy
Nevada State Director (Acting)
A person signed this, not an agency. The window has closed and the signature stands, which is exactly when accountability matters.
Nevada State Office
Justin Abernathy signed this decision and heads the office that would have to withdraw it.
Justin Abernathy's page on blm.gov →Short is better. You are asking State Director Abernathy to answer for a decision their office made.
My name is [your name] and I'm calling from [your city and state]. Justin Abernathy, Nevada State Director (Acting), signed the decision on Stop limestone quarrying on Humboldt County public lands. I'm asking the Nevada State Office to withdraw that decision and require full environmental review before anything proceeds. Please record that I called and tell me what the office intends to do.
Official channels only, about this decision. No personal phone numbers, no home addresses, no personal social accounts, and nothing abusive. The point is to make the office answer, and an abusive call is the one thing that lets it off the hook.
What the proposal said, and what the decision did
No figure from the proposal has been checked against the decision on this fight yet. What the record does hold is the issues ledger below.
No decision document is on PLAN’s record for this fight yet. When the agency’s decision lands, what it answered goes here.
Affects public lands
BLM may rewrite its land management plan to allow a limestone quarry on Nevada public lands.
What’s at risk
If this goes through
Our plain-English read of the official notice ↗. Check it against the agency’s own words below.
By the numbers, from the agency’s own document
- Surface disturbance from proposed open-pit mine
Preliminary Alternatives
Open the document ↗“of which approximately 474 acres of surface disturbance would occur”
- Total project life including reclamation
Preliminary Alternatives
Open the document ↗“The life of the proposed action is approximately 43 years”
- VRM Class II acres proposed for downgrade to Class III
Preliminary Alternatives
Open the document ↗“the BLM would change the visual management classification of 872.5 acres from VRM Class II to VRM Class III”
- Maximum disturbance allowed under No Action alternative
Preliminary Alternatives
Open the document ↗“an existing Notice that allows for up to 3.89 acres of disturbance”
- Jobs claimed for mine operations
Preliminary Alternatives
Open the document ↗“Mine operations would employ 78 people part-time and 16 full-time.”
- Total public land in planning area
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
Open the document ↗“The planning area is located in Humboldt County, Nevada and encompasses approximately 874 acres of public land.”
Source: the agency’s document ↗
Testing the agency’s case
What the agency argues, and whether its own record backs it
- 2
- Not backed yet
The BLM proposes to approve Lithium Nevada LLC's new limestone quarry on approximately 874 acres of public land in Humboldt County, Nevada. To do that, it would amend the 2015 Winnemucca District resource management plan and change 872.5 acres from Visual Resource Management Class II to Class III so the quarry would conform with the plan.
“The preliminary purpose and need also includes an amendment to the 2015 Winnemucca District RMP to adjust the Visual Resource Management Class II unit that contains the proposed project in order to respond to the proponent's Mining and Reclamation Plan.”
Purpose and Need
Purpose and needNot backed yetThe quarry can't conform to the 2015 Winnemucca District resource management plan unless its land is changed from Visual Resource Management Class II to Class III.
The Preliminary Alternatives section says the project boundary overlaps 872.3 acres of Class II land and that conformance requires an amendment. The notice doesn't state the Class II objectives or show how a quarry with approximately 474 acres of disturbance would fail them. It also proposes changing 872.5 acres from Class II, slightly more than the 872.3 acres it lists as Class II.
The agency’s words, the record +Hide the words
The agency says
“This proposed change would require an RMP amendment to modify the direction established in the 2015 Winnemucca District RMP, adjust the VRM classifications, meet VRM objectives, and ensure that the Western Quarry Limestone Project is in conformance with the RMP.”
Preliminary Alternatives
Elsewhere in the same document
“Currently, the project boundary overlaps 872.3 acres of VRM Class II and 0.9 acres of VRM Class III adjacent to State Route 140.”
Preliminary Alternatives
AuthorityNot backed yetThe BLM's duties under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act and Interior regulations create the need to act on this quarry proposal.
The Purpose and Need section ties the need to specific legal sources: Section 302 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, Interior's NEPA regulations and the 43 CFR 3600 regulations. It also cites the land use planning regulations at 43 CFR 1600 for the plan amendment. The Summary cites both NEPA and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act. For a notice that starts scoping, naming the governing statute and regulations is adequate support for the agency's statement of need.
The agency’s words +Hide the words
The agency says
“The need for this action is established by BLM's responsibility under Section 302 of the FLPMA and in compliance with U.S. Department of the Interior NEPA regulations, 43 CFR 3600 regulations, and other applicable federal and state laws and policies.”
Purpose and Need
How this was read
Read from the agency’s own notice ↗, the notice that opens this window; the full analysis comes later, so what it leaves unsupported is what to ask it to show. Every quote is checked word for word against it, a claim marked contradicted stands on a quote from the same document, and a second reading argued the agency’s side of every verdict before it was published. The verdicts are our reading; the quotes are the agency’s. A court can set aside agency action it finds “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law” (5 U.S.C. 706(2)(A) ↗), which is why these gaps are worth putting in the record.
In the agency’s own words
In compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, as amended, and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) of 1976, as amended, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Nevada State Director intends to prepare a Resource Management Plan (RMP) amendment with an associated Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Western Quarry Limestone Project and by this notice is announcing the beginning of the scoping period to solicit public comments and identify issues, is providing the planning criteria for public review.
Who signs it
Justin Abernathy
Nevada State Director (Acting)
Where the notice says so
The ground
The window has closed, so there’s no watch to set on it here.
In court on this ground
No court case we track is over Black Rock Field Office and Humboldt River Field Office.
Who holds the vote
PLAN’s record doesn’t tie a member of Congress to this fight yet. The scorecard grades the votes and bills that decide public lands; nothing joins a vote or a bill to this decision, so there’s no member to name here without guessing.
See how your members vote ↗On the record for this fight
1 person told us they filed on this fight through PLAN; we haven’t found that letter on the agency’s record yet.
- Judith A.60 seals
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