For the Greater Good

FOR THE GREATER GOOD

Mary Beth and Sam sat on their screened in porch, watching the sun set behind the Chocolate Mountains, enjoying a cool adult beverage.

“That sure was pretty,” said Mary Beth.

“Uh huh,” said Sam.

The couple had lived in California, in an aging prefab home on the shores of the Salton Sea for fifty-five years, since they were married in 1968.

“Did you hear?” asked Mary Beth.

“What?” asked Sam.

“About the lithium.”

Sam continued to stare to the west, watching the sun’s dying rays paint the sky a deep rose and tangerine orange. 

“It’s that man,” said Mary Beth. “You know, the man who made those electric cars, and bought The Twitter.” She paused, thinking. “What’s his name?”

“Elon Musk.”

“Right! Right! That’s the one. Well, because he wants to sell more of his electric cars, he needs a lot of lithium for the batteries. And, apparently there’s a whole boat load of lithium under the Salton.”

“Huh,” said Sam. “How’s he gonna get it out?”

“Well, you know those warm water plants on the south shore?

“Geothermal plants,” said Sam. “Yes.”

“That’s right! You are so smart Sam Keeler! That’s why I married you!”

“Anyway …” said Sam.

“Right. Well, you can get lithium out of the water at them geothermal plants, but it takes a long time. This Musk fella wants to drain the Salton, and mine it right out of the ground.”

Sam swung his head to stare at Mary Beth, alarm painting his face.

“Are you fucking kidding me? It’ll kill us all!”

*****

Elon Musk had his driver pull up as near to the shore of the Salton Sea as he could without getting the car mired in the muck. Ironically, they were riding in a gas powered Land Rover. Charging stations were rare this far out of the city, so he had to settle.

Musk and his assistant, Elora, stepped out of the car. Each was dressed in what would be considered roughing-it clothes — moisture-wicking shirts and pants, Blundstones, and serious sun hats. L.L. Bean, all the way.

The sky was a perfect blue, the temperature a toasty forty celsius, or one hundred and four degrees on the old Fahrenheit scale. Either way, it was damn hot. And the sun reflecting off the water and the white beaches immediately gave Musk a headache.

“What’ that smell?” gasped Elora, her hand immediately clapping over her mouth.

“They said there was a smell, I just didn’t expect it to be this overpowering,” said Musk. “This is unexpected.”

Musk turned and started walking towards the beach.

Elora made a small gagging sound, and followed.

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

It was not an unpleasant sound. Whatever they were walking on was small and fragile. Musk and Elora crunched their way towards the shore.

Musk stopped, and looked down.

“What are we walking on?” he queried. “It’s not sand …”

Elora bent down, looking closely.

“No!” she said, horror in her voice. “Elon, it’s fish bones.”

“No! Fish bones! It can’t be fish bones. Millions and millions of fish would have had to die for this to all be fish bones.”

He waved his arm, encompassing the white beach that continued as far as the eye could see.

Elora used the toe of her boot to move a small skeleton towards Musk.

“It’s a fish skeleton, Elon,” she said, looking closely at the material underfoot. “It’s all fish skeletons.” She looked back up at Musk. “What the hell happened here?”

Musk pulled out his phone, and scanned the report his advisors had sent him about the Salton Sea. 

“It says that many millions of fish have died here due to the excessive levels of salt and the agricultural pollution in the water.”

“That explains the smell,” said Elora.

They walked to the lake edge. Instead of the lovely blue that they had seen from the air, up close the water was brown and brackish.  

Musk shook his head.

“The world would be better off without this nightmare.”

*****

Mary Beth watched Sam pace. It was the next morning, and all Sam had done all night was pace and rant.

“You know that we live in a desert, right?” he said.

Mary Beth looked at Sam. It was the same look she gave him every time he said something stupid. After a million years of marriage, Sam knew the look well.

“I’m sorry. I know you know we live in a desert.”  

He shook his head. In his other life Sam was a geologist with a specialty in hydrology.  

“You know how all the kids around the lake have asthma?”

Mary Beth nodded her head.

“And you know that the lake has been shrinking for years?”

Another nod.

“Well, there’s a correlation between these three things. When the water recedes, like it has been for the last forty years, it exposes the lake bed. Well, all the pollution flowing into the lake from agriculture and from the Colorado River settles the Salton and sinks to the lake bottom. When the water dries up, a horror story of contaminants are released into the air every time the wind blows. Because this is a desert, and we only receive about three inches of rain a year, there is no natural suppression of the dust.  Stuff like copper, arsenic, selenium, DDT are blown around, and we inhale it. All that stuff that is toxic to humans.”

Mary Beth just stared at Sam.

“Sam, we’ve lived here for fifty-five years. What does that mean for us?”

“I don’t know.”

*****

Musk had directed his driver to drive around the lake, stopping to examine the different settlements. He was most taken with Bombay Beach, an emerging artists’ community. The outdoor art installations were, quirky, to say the least. But not quirky enough for him to consider changing his plans.

The rows and rows of hay bales placed around the shore to help prevent the dust from kicking up gave the area an almost otherworldly quality. He’d realized that he'd need a lot more hay.

He examined the geothermal plants on the southeast shore of the sea. These were what really interested Musk. The fact that they were extracting lithium from the brine brought to the surface, made Musk believe that the true lithium motherlode would be found under the seabed, in the bedrock.

They returned to their plane at the Salton City airport, and headed back to San Fransisco.

*****

About an hour into the flight, Elora looked up from her laptop. She’d been reviewing the report Musk had commissioned regarding the area's feasibility as a possible lithium mining locale. But, because Musk was well-known as a man who only wanted to hear what he wanted to hear, Elora had been examining other documents on the sly. She read things that disturbed her, but she didn’t want to unnecessarily annoy her boss. She decided to tread lightly.

“Elon,” she said. “Did you know that the Salton Sea is the only remaining wetland area in the southwest?”

“So?”

“It is an extremely important location for migrating birds, as well as local species.”

“Again, so?”

“Well, what will happen to the birds if you drain the sea?”

“The same thing as would happen if we let the water disappear on its own. They will find somewhere else to go.”

Elora, who was Musk’s VP of Development, was also a biologist by training. She knew it would not be that easy nor that simple. Many species could be lost. But she let it rest. Because Elon got what Elon wanted.

*****

“This guy doesn’t care about us!”

Sam was worked up, and on a rant.

“Maybe he won’t be able to buy the land under the Salton,” reasoned Mary Beth. “The government owns most of it.”

“He’s Elon Friggin’ Musk. Of course he’ll be able to buy it. Plus the US is hungry for lithium. If what I read is true, the land under the Salton could contain the world’s largest lithium deposits. I can see Uncle Sam giving it to Musk if he promises to sell all the lithium only to Americans. That would reduce our dependance on Chinese sources.”

“But what about us?” asked Mary Beth. “He can’t build his mine if we don’t sell. Right?”

“Eminent domain, Mary Beth. Eminent domain.”

She looked confused.

“The right of the government to take your land if they feel it’s in the best interest of the country.”

“They’d just take it? Our house? Everything?”

“No. They'd pay fair market price. But right now our house is worth about seventy grand. Where can we buy another house for seventy grand?”

Mary Beth had a sinking feeling in her stomach.

*****

The next morning Musk and Elora returned to the Salton Sea. Musk was ruminating over his meetings with the government. While they weren’t willing to sell the land around and under the sea, they were willing to lease it to Musk for $1 a year with the codicil that all the lithium mined in the area remained in the United States, no exceptions. No selling to brokers, just to the manufacturers. Musk didn’t like that condition, but he had his lawyers looking into work-arounds, so he’d see.  

Musk would also be responsible for the cost of building the mine. He figured it would probably cost over a billion dollars. But, the rewards would be substantial. Especially for Tesla. The fact that he had to negotiate land deals with the Torres Martinez Desert Cahulla Indians and the actual landowners was moot. Who wouldn’t want to be given enough money to leave this hellscape in the middle of the desert? And if they wouldn’t sell, well, he’d build around them and make their lives so miserable that they would beg him to buy their property, and he would be able to get the properties for well below market value when they finally decided to flee. You had to love the free market.

Elora was having very different thoughts. While the impact to wildlife was devastating, the human costs were apocalyptic. All that toxic sand blowing across southern California would be catastrophic. Already the Salton Sea had childhood asthma rates at thirty percent, double the rates of the rest of the country. Dry up the lake and the respiratory problems would grow exponentially, affecting areas from Los Angeles, to Arizona, into Mexico with toxic dust. She was despondent. How could Elon Musk’s ego allow him to not consider the horrific human toll?

When the plane landed, the car was waiting for them.

“Take me to Sam Keeler’s house,” said Musk.

*****

Sam Keeler, retired geologist, was also considered the expert on the Salton Sea. He had been mapping and measuring, and tracking the changes to the Salton Sea for decades. It had been his job. He also spent more person-hours on the surface of the Salton than any other person alive. He knew his Salton Sea. He was the go-to guide.

He and Mary Beth were sitting on the porch drinking coffee, when a Land Rover pulled into the driveway, and a man and a woman got out of the car.

Sam went to the porch door. He recognized the man. It was Elon Musk. It was almost as if by thinking of Musk, Sam had conjured him, right now, right here, in his driveway.

“Can I help you?” called Sam.

Musk spoke. “Are you Sam Keeler?”

“I am,” said Sam

“We’ve been told that you would be the person to give us a tour of the Salton Sea by boat. I’d like to hire you.”

Sam wasn’t sure. On one hand the thought of spending time with such a repugnant human being was not appealing. On the other hand, Musk would be a captive audience, and Sam would be able to tell him what an asshole he was, and tell him to leave their lake alone. Sam decided to take the hire. But he was going to make sure to get paid in advance.

“Okay. Seven hundred and fifty dollars for four hours on the lake.”

“That’s a bit steep,” said Musk.

“That’s the rate. There’s two of you, there’s the gas, the travel to the shore, my inconvenience.”

Musk thought for a moment.  

“Deal. Will you accept a cheque?”

“Nope. Cash only. There’s an ATM in town.”

“No need.” 

Musk pulled out his wallet and handed Sam ten one hundred dollar bills.  

“If you do a good job, you can keep the change. It’ll be your tip.”

The balls on this guy! thought Sam. But he agreed.

*****

The three passengers were on Sam’s fifteen foot motor boat, heading to the centre of the Salton Sea. Musk had been peppering Sam with questions about the lake since they had boarded. Sam knew the stats by heart. Depth, fifty-one feet, variable; three hundred forty-three square miles surface area, and shrinking; one hundred and ten miles of coast line, also shrinking; sixty parts per thousand salt, almost twice that of the Pacific Ocean, and rising.  

Musk was impressed. These were the same stats that his team had compiled. Right now though, he wanted to go to the geographic centre of the lake, and drop a depth meter to find the actual deepest point of the Salton. Sam obliged.

Elora looked out at the water, considering the impact her boss would have on the region. All so that he could get to the lithium quickly.  She knew that his philosophy was the sacrifice of a few for the good of the many, his own reward tantamount. But was it that easy for Elon? Was it that easy for him to be able to see beyond the personal suffering his decisions would cause? She looked at Sam. Where would he go? What would happen to his guiding business?  

At that moment a flock of pelicans skimmed the water, starboard side. Elora watched them disappear into the horizon.

What about them? Elora wondered. And the dozens of other species that depended on the Salton Sea?

Sam turned off the motor, and took out his depth meter, and dropped it over the side of the boat.  

He turned to Musk. “I know who you are,” said Sam.

Musk smiled. “I would be surprised if you didn’t recognize me.”

“I don’t like what you’re planning to do around here.”

“What am I planning to do, Sam Keeling?”

“Drain the lake, create a lithium open pit mine.”

Musk looked at Elora.

“She didn’t tell me squat. I did my research. I know that you tried this once before with a company called Simbol Materials, and you failed. All the pundits say that you want to become a player in the lithium business, badly. This is your dream — you control all the lithium, and the electric car market.”

“Impressive,” said Musk.

“What I don’t understand,” said Sam, “is why you have to destroy our lifestyle here. Isn’t the lithium capture through the geothermal brine enough? Why do you have to drain the Salton and pollute the air with tons of toxic dust?”

Musk looked taken aback and slightly annoyed. It was obvious that he wasn’t used to being questioned. Especially by a boat guide.

“The geothermal option takes too long, and the technology is expensive. We need lithium now.”

For the first time Elora spoke up. “But Elon, this part of the world needs the wetlands for the birds. And Sam is right about the toxic dust. Your plan destroys this air for thousands of miles. It could potentially destroy agriculture in the Imperial and Chochella valleys, as well. Where will the US get its vegetables?”

Musk was mad. Not only was this yahoo questioning him, but Elora had the gall to question his motives.

“Well, Elora, if you must know, the US government seems to be willing to believe the risk is worth the reward. We should be happy they will be giving us the go ahead, instead of questioning my motives."

“Without public consultation?” asked Sam, anger in his voice.

“That’s right. One of the many special commissions will rubber stamp the deal, then it’s a go. 'National Security'” He made air quotes with his hands.

Elora and Sam were gobsmacked.

“You can’t to that, Elon. It’s unethical, and probably illegal,” said Elora.

“Unethical?” Musk snorted. “You know who you work for, right? Besides, a few well-placed political donations, and the world’s my oyster, isn’t it.”

Elora was stunned.

“I can’t believe I looked up to you,” she said, disgust rich in her tone.

“Stop your belly-aching. And if you can’t stomach this, then find yourself another job. And remember, you signed an NDA.”

Elora was so shocked that she stepped forward and pushed Musk square in the chest, two-handed.

“You are a horrible human being!” she shouted.

Musk was clearly not expecting her reaction, and he went right over the edge and into the water.

Elora stared at the spot where Musk went into the water. It was so murky that she couldn’t see him under the surface.

“He can’t swim,” she whispered.

Sam jumped into action, grabbing the recovery pole and the orange lifesaver ring, he scanned the surface.  

There was nothing, nor a ripple. Sam tried dragging the recovery pole over the surface for ten minutes. Nothing.

“We need to call the authorities,” said Sam.

Elora looked at him fear written on her face. “What are you going to say?”

“Just that Mr. Musk was leaning over the side of the boat and fell in. I’d asked him to wear a life vest, but he declined.”

Sam handed Elora a PFD and took one himself. 

“It was a horrible accident,” said Sam.

*****

Breaking News! The body of tech billionaire Elon Musk has been recovered from the Salton Sea …