During a three-month period when the governor-appointed state engineer was reviewing a controversial lithium extraction application from an Australian company, Gov. Spencer Cox’s reelection campaign accepted a $10,000 donation from the company’s U.S. subsidiary, according to state campaign finance records.
The contribution comes amid a push from state lawmakers to bar foreign entities from donating to voter-led initiatives as it seeks to enshrine control over the future of such ballot questions in the Utah Constitution. The state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the constitutional proposal can’t be considered by voters this year.
Anson Resources subsidiary Blackstone Minerals NV LLC applied for water rights on the Green River in July 2023. Blackstone Minerals later registered a lobbyist in Utah in December of that year, referring to themselves then as “A1 Lithium (Anson Resources, Blackstone Minerals NV LLC).”
In May, three months after Cox reappointed State Engineer Teresa Wilhelmsen to a second term, she approved the application.
After several individuals and groups protested the decision, including the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Wilhelmsen agreed in June to reconsider her decision.
Then on July 31, a separate subsidiary of Anson Resources — A1 Lithium Inc. — donated $10,000 to Cox.
And earlier this month Wilhelmsen reaffirmed her consent for the Green River lithium drilling project.
Anson Resources’ head of investor relations said the donation “was a contribution associated with attending the recent Governor’s Gala.” Entities could sponsor the event with a donation of $10,000 to $50,000, the Deseret News reported, while individual tickets cost $650 per individual or $1,000 per couple.
A1 Lithium is registered in California, lists its principal address as being in Nevada and, according to business filings, was formed in Utah. Its parent company, Anson Resources, is headquartered in Brisbane, Australia.
Cox, during his State of the State address in January, said he’d “love to build a wall around our state — and get California to pay for it,” and then acknowledged that wasn’t realistic and it was important to ensure Utah grows “in the right way.”
Utah is one of five states that allows unlimited campaign contributions from corporations. While Cox’s campaign is governed by state campaign finance law, which has few restrictions on contributions, federal campaign finance law also allows domestic corporations that are subsidiaries of a foreign corporation to contribute to federal candidates in certain circumstances.
A spokesperson for Cox’s campaign said it has not communicated with the Utah Department of Natural Resources — the agency under which the state engineer works — “or other members of the Governor’s staff” about the project.
His office echoed that statement, and said, “the State Engineer’s job is solely to manage the beneficial use of water in Utah according to established water law. The State Engineer runs a process that is independent and free of unnecessary influence from the Governor’s Office.”
The governor’s spokesperson added, “We are proud that these kinds of projects bring more jobs to rural Utah and help source critical minerals that will enable a clean energy future.”
Wilhelmsen insisted in a statement to The Tribune that her choice to approve the project was solely hers, and that the governor’s office did not influence it.
“As the State Engineer, I make decisions solely based on Utah law, precedent cases, water data and measurement, water availability and prior appropriation,” Wilhelmsen wrote. “Decisions are made independently of other government departments, divisions or elected offices.”
She continued, “The State Engineer’s office looks at internal research and submitted information of record, and only confers with the Division of Water Rights staff and legal counsel.”
Lithium is a fundamental element in the rechargeable batteries that power phones, computers, cameras and electric vehicles essential to a clean energy transition — but extracting the mineral requires large sums of water.
Anson Resources promises that its project near the Green River uses a method that will return 100% of the water it uses to draw out the metal to the ground, claiming a “non-consumptive use” of the water.
Environmentalists, farmers and locals doubt that claim, and were among those who asked Wilhelmsen to reevaluate granting the 14,000-acre-foot water right. For reference, one acre-foot of water can sustain around two Utah households for a year.
“This is the standard,” Kyle Roerink, executive director of the environmental nonprofit Great Basin Water Network, which challenged the first approval, said of the donation. “Companies in extractive industries have been filling campaign coffers of all parties without much reproach by the public for as long as there’s been campaign finance laws.”
The Green River Lithium project isn’t Anson’s only venture in Utah.
A1 Lithium began leasing hundreds of acres in southeastern Utah from the Utah Trust Lands Administration starting in 2019. Two years later, the subsidiary asked the U.S. Bureau of Land Management for permission to drill lithium exploration wells near Dead Horse Point State Park, which the agency approved.
The BLM rescinded its approval for that project in 2023, following complaints from the environmental nonprofit Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance that the environmental review for the proposed drilling was insufficient.
A1 Lithium submitted a revised plan for lithium exploration in the same area, which is still in the “analysis and document preparation” stage of planning, according to the National Environmental Policy Act page for that project last updated in July.
