The federal government will have to pay more than $700 billion in compensation to the state of Alaska for the Environmental Protection Agency's actions in 2023 that blocked development of the massive and controversial Pebble Mine in southwest Alaska. , argued in a lawsuit filed in federal court by Gov. Mike Dunleavy.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in the District of Columbia, is part of a series of lawsuits by states and would-be mine developers seeking to revive large-scale copper and gold projects.
The state and company's legal action follows a failed attempt by the Dunleavy administration to have the issue decided directly by the U.S. Supreme Court. In an unusual legal maneuver, the Dunleavy administration petitioned the Supreme Court last July to rule on the issue without hearing lower courts. The Supreme Court refused to accept the case in January.
The state cited 100-year production estimates to support the $700 billion figure in a complaint filed Thursday with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. He said Alaska's economic future depends on the Pebble development.
“In recent memory, no land-use project has been as important to the nation as the Pebble deposit, which would generate billions of dollars in revenue for the state and support Alaska, which has a large population of rural residents with limited economic opportunity. “This would have created tens of thousands of jobs for the people of the state,” the complaint states.
Vancouver-based Northern Dynasty Minerals and Pebble Limited Partnership, of which Northern Dynasty is the sole owner, filed parallel lawsuits for the same purpose.
One, filed Thursday in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, seeks compensation for lost opportunities in developing Pebble. Unlike the state's lawsuit, it does not seek a specific dollar amount, but it says Pebble Limited Partnership has spent more than $1 billion to acquire real estate and advance the mine's development.
A second lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Anchorage seeks to overturn the EPA's January 2023 decision to invoke a rarely used provision of the Clean Water Act to bar permits for the Pebble project. ing.
The state plans to file its own challenge to the EPA lawsuit in U.S. District Court, the Justice Department said in a statement Friday.
Northern Dynasty's chief executive officer said the substantive claims challenging the EPA's lawsuit are the more important legal endeavor in the two company lawsuits.
“Our priority is to move forward with our case in local federal court,” Ron Thiessen, Northern Dynasty's president and CEO, said in a statement. “This would remove a major obstacle from the path to obtaining permission to build a mine that is currently in use.” “The filing of this complaint puts us on notice that if the U.S. government continues to illegally interfere with the legitimate permitting process, we will be seeking very large damages. This is essentially insurance. It will ensure that we have access to it if or when we decide to pursue this case further.”
The state and company's legal actions drew condemnation from Pebble's opponents. Opponents of Pebble characterize the mining project as a serious threat to the Bristol Bay habitat on which major commercial, sport and subsistence salmon harvests depend.
“The state's legal filings are unimpeded and seem more like a conspiracy from the dark corners of the internet than a legitimate legal argument,” Tim Bristol, executive director of the advocacy group Salmon State, said in an emailed statement. It sounds like a logical rant.”
“What the governor and his appointees are saying is that federal rules and regulations do not apply to Alaska, and that if the law proves otherwise, we deserve an astronomical amount of money from American taxpayers.” This is political posturing at its worst and pure legal fantasy. The reality is the Bristol Bay wild salmon run, the people who depend on it, and the jobs and income they provide. It is extremely unfortunate that those involved have decided to turn their backs on one of Alaska's greatest renewable resources in favor of a wild ideological delusion,” Bristol said.
jason Metrokin, president and CEO of Bristol Bay Native Corporation, also criticized the legal action. He said in a statement that the EPA's actions are “based on science and supported by the majority of Alaskans.”
“That's just a mistake [Northern Dynasty Minerals] Metrokin added that the commercial fishing industry generates $2 billion in annual economic activity and more than 15,000 jobs, adding that the commercial fishery generates what could be the largest open-pit mine in North America, near the headwaters of Bristol Bay's incredible salmon fishery. He added that he would continue to pursue development. .
In a separate statement, Delores Larson, interim director of the Bristol Bay Confederated Tribes, predicted that the new legal effort would fail. “We have proven over and over again that the courts have upheld EPA protections, that Alaskans have not, and that the science has proven devastating impacts to salmon habitat and the waters that support our way of life.” I am confident that Pebble will reject Pebble's efforts to revive its proposed mining project. Our legislators must act aggressively to permanently protect Bristol Bay. Hmm. Our future depends on it.”
When asked about the state's $700 billion bill at a news conference Friday, Dunleavy declined to predict its success.
“I don't know. Right? There's an election in November that could change the world landscape in this country,” he said.
He acknowledged that many Alaskans oppose Pebble, but said he disagrees with that sentiment. “I'm not going to stop saying that proper development of Alaska's mineral fields, including Pebble, is a bad thing,” he said.
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