Senator Cortez Masto secured funding for American Battery Technology Company through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to create clean energy jobs in battery manufacturing and recycling.
Washington, D.C. – Through her Innovation State Initiative, U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) announced that American Battery Technology Company (ABTC) has kicked off a multi-year project to design, construct, and operate it first commercial-scale lithium hydroxide manufacturing facility in Tonopah, Nevada, supporting more than 100 new jobs in the Silver State. Senator Cortez Masto wrote the battery manufacturing and recycling program funding this $57 million grant, which was signed into law through the bipartisan Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act.
“Nevada is leading the nation in clean energy, and I’m proud to support our businesses who are creating good-paying jobs for our workers while creating a more sustainable future, said Senator Cortez Masto. “This program I established will help strengthen our critical mineral supply chain and help drive our state’s clean energy economy.”
This launch marks a major milestone in ABTC’s Tonopah Flats Lithium Project, which will help provide a domestic supply of critical battery materials needed for the U.S. clean-energy economy through the sustainable manufacturing of battery-grade lithium hydroxide. The ABTC Tonopah Flats Lithium Project is one of the largest known lithium deposits in the U.S. with an inferred resource of 15.8 million tons of lithium carbonate equivalent. ABTC will partner with the University of Nevada, Reno, and other institutions and companies for the project, which is expected to create more than 100 new jobs.
Senators Cortez Masto has consistently worked to create good-paying clean energy jobs across Nevada. Since the start of her Innovation State Initiative, Senator Cortez Masto has been a proponent of renewable and sustainable energy, passing bipartisan legislation to promote Nevada’s mining and emerging battery industries and set up a sustainable critical mineral supply chain, and leading efforts in the Senate to create good-paying solar energy jobs. Last year, she helped cut through red tape to ensure Fulcrum BioEnergy’s new Sierra BioFuels Plant in Storey County could launch operations, protecting more than 100 permanent jobs.
###