By BRETT HUBER | POWER THE FUTURE
In Alaska’s remote Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, opportunity is rare, but hope has a name: Donlin Gold.
The proposed mine represents one of the largest untapped gold deposits in the world and a lifeline for an impoverished region that has endured generations of economic stagnation. With hundreds of well-paying jobs, new infrastructure, and a path to long-term self-reliance for Alaska Native communities, Donlin is not just a mine — it’s a chance at dignity and economic freedom.
Yet it is being strangled — not by environmental failure or regulatory gaps, but by environmental extremism and the ideological overreach of the federal judiciary.
The latest rulings out of U.S. District Court, particularly those handed down by Judge Sharon Gleason, are not exercises in legal prudence — they are acts of judicial activism. Over the past decade, Judge Gleason has developed a disturbing pattern: consistent deference to federal agencies when it suits environmental interests, and zero deference when it doesn’t. In cases involving state sovereignty, such as oil and gas development or road construction on state lands, she often falls back on the rationale that federal agencies deserve broad discretion. But when agencies issue permits backed by science, tribal consultation, and years of review, such as the Army Corps’ permit for Donlin, suddenly Judge Gleason abandons deference in favor of environmental groups like Earthjustice.
This is not consistency. This is ideology cloaked in legalese.
In the most recent ruling, Gleason ordered a Clean Water Act permit granted to Donlin by the Army Corps of Engineers to be reassessed, claiming the Corps failed to perform a sufficiently “quantitative” analysis of scope of impact, even after more than a decade of environmental review. This wasn’t a ruling based on a lack of process.
It was, once again, based on second-guessing the conclusions of expert agencies who followed the law to the letter. Even worse, it serves as a green light to environmental litigants who want to stall the project into oblivion, and a flashing red stop sign to the people of the Y-K Delta.
This is death by a thousand cuts. Not one fatal ruling, but a steady bleed of lawsuits, remands, and re-reviews designed to exhaust, delay, and ultimately kill a lawful project through attrition. These tactics are enabled, and at times emboldened, by judges like Gleason who pick and choose when federal authority matters and when it should be disregarded.
Environmental groups like Earthjustice know exactly what they’re doing. They’ve turned the courtroom into a policy arena where they can achieve what they can’t through legislation or public consensus. And in judges like Gleason, they’ve found willing allies– jurists who routinely lean into the most expansive, least grounded interpretations of environmental law to halt development at any cost.
Let’s be clear: Donlin Gold is not trying to cut corners. The project has undergone one of the most rigorous permitting processes in the country. It has worked in good faith with over 40 tribal entities, incorporated extensive environmental safeguards, and agreed to monitoring and mitigation plans that set a new standard for responsible development. Donlin has done everything right, and it’s still being punished.
This is not just about one project. The precedent being set here is dangerous. If a legally compliant project can be perpetually stalled by shifting judicial standards and ideological litigation, then no infrastructure project in America is safe. Not a mine, not a pipeline, not even a road.
Who pays the price for this obstructionism? Certainly not Earthjustice lawyers in Washington, DC. It’s the people of Western Alaska, where jobs are scarce, costs are crushing and hope too often takes the form of a plane ticket out. Donlin represents the possibility of staying. Of building. Of thriving.
Judge Gleason may believe she’s protecting the environment. But what she’s really doing is denying opportunity to those who need it most. Her courtroom may be in Anchorage, but the consequences of her rulings are felt 500 miles west, where families wait for something better and watch it slip away with every new legal blow.
It’s time to ask: who speaks for them?
The courts should ensure fairness—not serve as tools for ideological delay. The people of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta deserve a path forward, not another dead end manufactured by legal gamesmanship. Let Donlin Gold proceed. Let Alaska build its future.
Brett Huber represents Power the Future in Alaska.
Federal judge Sharon Gleason. Yes, she’s the one who thought it was a good idea to kill the only source of gas for Alaskans to heat their homes. She doesn’t seem to weigh the cost of Alaskan lives when she decides to make a state 1/3 the size of the entire country into a grand national park.
There are supposed to be 2 other federal judges working for our area. Do we even have them yet?
Personally, I think we need a judicial review on Sharon Gleason. Perhaps she shouldn’t be allowed to work cases while that review is in process, much the same way she cuts us off of making a living.
Where are the other two Federal Judges for Alaska? Instead of cry baby interviews with the New York Times, Murky as Alaska’s Senior Senator should be spear heading these two vacant Judge positions. This has nothing to do with Trump, so her TDS excuse falls on deaf ears.
Building the largest open pit mine with the largest earthen dam to hold back the millions of gallons of toxic tailings pond wastewater at the headwaters of the Kuskokwim river, the last major salmon spawning river in the world is not smart.
Those tailings dams have broken and spilled toxins that kill everything aquatic below the dam.
With new technology such as high lift hige air balloon type aircraft the gold bearing ore can be transported to existing toll mines such as Fort Knox and the ore can be processed there, safely away from major salmon spawning rivers such as the Yukon and Kuskokwim.
That way they will get their gold, we will have jobs but not be forever threatened by that million gallon holding pond ready to destroy our rivers once the gold and gold companies are gone.
Gleason has proven her Democrat and environmental wacko bonafides. Who appointed this extreme activist judge?
How do we get rid of Gleason. She is the antichrist for western Alaskas future. There are very few jobs over there. Beware western Alaska the left doesn’t want you on your ground. They want you gone. Don’t let them trick you. Gleason is the bottom of the barrel.
The Liberal Bar Association will continue to Promote Liberal Judges.
Some day the Alaska Native corporations and thus their propagandized constituencies will realize that Democrats are NOT their friends. Some day….
Rather like Jihadis, these liberal judges are relentless. How about a (metaphorical) bunker buster to clear out the toxicity…. 💥
Sharon Gleason was appointed by Barack Obama. And, of course, Joe Biden had an opportunity to add his number of judicial activists to the bench. Seems to be a pattern, democrat presidents seem to appoint judicial activists. And judicial activist judges push their pet narratives at the expense of the laws they swore to uphold. In Alaska, Donlon Gold will be suffer death by a thousand cuts.
The Gleason decision is actually a win for Donlin. If she had ruled in support of all the plaintiff’s complaints, the project would have ground to a halt. Instead the only ruling against Donlin was the lack of analysis on catastrophic failure of the tailings dam. They just need to do an analysis. The project is starting an update of their feasibility study, which is needed in any case. It will take time. Do the feasibility study. Cross the T’s and dot the i’s on the tailings dam analysis. Finish the feasibility study. Construct the mine.
Gleason:
A severely compromised activist judge. No neutral ground for her. She would make a worthy executive director for Earth Justice. But she is completely misplaced as a fair judge. Impeach!
Gleason is improvidentially biased to a standard that defies common sense. She’s a shrew and a functioning tool, only for the Left.
There you (MAGA) go again, saying it’s not Trumps fault, I know there is laws to follow, most of the time the dictator wanna be runs rough shod over the rules and loses in court. Hes going to screw this project up and blame the judges, he already got rid of the watchdog people whose job was to keep an eye on him. Made our DOJ his personal attorneys. He or any MAGA person could care less about Natives, so don’t Bs yourself. This is a worthwhile project.
Not a single mention of DJT in the article. Maybe you haven’t noticed that federal judges enjoin nearly everything he does. Is DJT personally responsible for everything wrong in your world? DJT isn’t your problem, you are.
Blah blah blah. Same tired finger pointing from Huber. The message template really hasn’t changed in 30 years. Meanwhile the Kuskokwim is dying. But who cares if you can make a buck…
Democrats will stop at nothing to prevent this nation from becoming Great Again.