In what appears to be a lost-cause and last-ditch effort, the Dunleavy Administration has filed a challenge of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit refusal for the Pebble Mine.
The Recall Dunleavy Committee wasted no time in using that as an opportunity to drum up more recall petition signatures, sending out an email blast right away to point out that Dunleavy was on the side of the Pebble Mine.
The administrative appeal filed by the Department of Law asks the United States Army Corps of Engineers to rethink its decision denying a needed water use permit for the proposed mine in Southwest Alaska.
“The flawed decision by the Alaska District creates a dangerous precedent that will undoubtedly harm Alaska’s future and, any potential project can fall victim to the same questionable standards,” Dunleavy said in a press release. “We have to prevent a federal agency, in this instance, the Alaska District of the Army Corps of Engineers, from using the regulatory process to effectively prevent the State from fulfilling a constitutional mandate to develop its natural resources.”
“The Alaska District’s decision has far-reaching and ominous implications for our rights as a state to develop our resources for the benefit of all Alaskans, whether its mineral deposits like Pebble, or oil and gas on the North Slope, or other resources anywhere in the state,” said Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Corri Feige. “The Alaska Constitution specifically directs us to develop our resources in the public interest. When a federal agency arbitrarily tries to deprive us of our rights with the stroke of a bureaucrat’s pen, we simply must challenge that action.”
The appeal asks the Army Corps Pacific Ocean Division to remand the permit decision back to the Alaska District for a more thorough review. Because Alaska has so much more intact wetlands than any other state in the nation, and in fact more than all the Lower 48 states combined, the Corps has depended on guidance documents in the past that treat Alaska differently than the Lower 48.
The 404 permit, required under the federal Clean Water Act, is required for any natural resource development project to move forward.
Susan in regards to another post, if you continue to post articles from Anchorage Daily Planet, I will no longer follow your posts. What a disgrace!
I’m sorry to see political coercion anywhere. Kim, I think we’d likely agree on the ADN’s value to society, however, making editorial demands just smacks of censorship.
I wish we could respond to the article but I guess that’s in the agreement. Not being able to.
Who writes the Anchorage Daily Planet? I just read their first two pieces a bad idea and we are better than that. Before this person start publicly writing this writer need to read more before creating public documents. Those two public documents misses reporting sources of the events they are critizing. Or else the writer stick to comments as the rest of us. Hahahaha
If i was Suzanne, I cut Anchorage Daily Planet loose from MRAK. This writer will diminish the thoughtful content reputation we grown appreciated.
ADP is a last gasp … ignore them.
Dan the Hero Man and Little Lisa both said let the Scientists make the call on Pebble. After all Dan had a election to win.
Low and behold the Illegal Pebble Ruling not based on Environmental Impact, will set the precedent to shut down ALL ground disturbing activities in resource development in Alaska.
Nope it was more important to get elected than stand up for Alaska s State Rights to develop State Land.
Was it worth it Dan the Hero man?
If you really wanted to impress Alaskans last week, you would have thrown Little Lisa aka Turn Coat to the ANTIFA dressed like MAGA protesters. You know the ones that have been burning and looting for the last several years. Without as much as whisper from you phonies.
Wow. He came out behind his desk and took a position?
Is this April Fools come early?
It’s over. Natives lost many high paying jobs.
they never were going to get a lot of jobs. The company would hire from outside just like they do on the slope. It would mainly be Canadians.
Good Luck!!! The next 4-years (possibly more?) are going to be a tumultuous time in the 49th State. The Lawyers, Think-Tanks, Pollsters, Lobbyists and Consultants will do great.
……and the hugely profitable “non-profit” entities.
Too little, too late. Some of the mining companies have already reallocated their budget for next year.
The Environazis/CCP attack dogs have won.
As I understand it, the land that would be developed by the Pebble Project was some of the first land selected by the State of Alaska under the Statehood Act. A key and essential aspect of the land grant to the State under the Statehood Act was to provide an economic base for the new State. Many opponents of Statehood feared Alaska would not be able to support itself and could be a burden on other states. The basis for the appeal is fairly simple: If the Statehood Act is going to be honored, then the feds should not be able to block the State from developing the land that it has selected. Of course, there are many, many people that want to do exactly that. And if the feds succeed in doing so in this instance, this method will be used many more times in the future to destroy the Statehood Act. And once again make Alaska and Alaskans quite dependent on the federal government.
The deposit has only recently been exposed by glaciation and is leaching metals into the streams. In fact, Cominco geologists found the deposit using stream sediment geochemistry. Mining the deposit would actually reduce the amount of metals going into the environment.
You’re correct, but trying to use reason, on people with an agenda dictated by the CCP, is an exercise in futility. IMO: What we really need is a total embargo against Chinese products. Make it too expensive for them to meddle in our affairs.
Just default on our loans.
Alaska is different than the lower 48!! In this case is not ”the state developing the resources” rather its “ the state giving a foreign owned entity permission to develop our natural resources”.
There are no 100% domestic mining companies except most of the mom & pop placer mines and some very small hard-rock deposits.
All major mining companies are multi-national, even the one’s in Russia and China.
The Russian “Mafia” and Chinese “Tong” don’t have the resources nor the specialized knowledge base, to build multi-billion dollar mines, all by themselves. How could they? Their governments are only criminal organizations writ large.
Northern Dynasty has been developing Pebble in hopes of selling it to one of the multinationals.
Like BP?
Kind of a play on words. In the lower 48, foreign entities buy oil leases from the government. Think of pebble mine as an oil lease from the state of Alaska. Same same.
john, there are no american mining companies because they have been forced out of business by the feds. in this instance, it might be a canadian company, but they will employ americans to mine the deposit. the canadians will operate the mine, but will do it from canada. this type of deposit would put alaskans to work for generations. they will invest in infrastructure to get the ore to market. that means roads, rail, or by some other means. the river that opponents keep talking is 50 miles or so away and they worry? Kennicot operated a large copper deposit along another salmon bearing river, its called the copper river, and yet, the fish still spawn every year in great numbers. if we dont develop our resources, there will be no growth, that is a given. we must develop all our resources, but alska doesn’t tax the gold, copper, only the oil, why? if the minerals are owned by alsaka, then why not charge a fee for every ounce, pound, or barrel recovered?
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