Pebble Mine in Alaska the fight continues...

By MarEx 2017-10-06 21:44:40

The backers of the proposed copper and gold mine in the headwaters of Alaska's Bristol Bay, UK-based mining firm Anglo American and British Columbia-based Northern Dynasty Minerals, have released a new version of their development plan.

The first plan for their "Pebble Mine" facility was rejected by the EPA on the grounds that its operations posed an unacceptable risk to Bristol Bay's sockeye salmon fishery, the largest in the world. On a good year, fishermen bring in up to 35 million sockeye during the Bristol Bay opening – about 40 percent of the world total. EPA did not wait for the Pebble Mine project to complete an EIS: it conducted its own assessment of the mine's impact on salmon and proposed to halt it before the normal permitting process. Risks EPA identified included salmon habitat loss; habitat degradation from sediment and streamflow alterations; toxic levels of dissolved copper in stream water; and (in the worst case) mine waste containment failure, as at the Mount Polley mine in 2014.

Tom Collier, the CEO of Pebble Limited Partnership, the Anglo American / Northern Dynasty joint venture, said Thursday that his firm had reached an agreement with the Trump administration's EPA to halt litigation over the EPA’s ban if the permitting process moves forward. "When the new team came in . . . we pretty quickly resolved that we would drop all of our litigation and they would stop this foolishness of coming after us with a preliminary veto," he said.

On July 11, the EPA announced an intention to withdraw the proposed ban and restart the review process. On Thursday, EPA announced new public hearings on its decision to withdraw the ban, and Collier announced Pebble Limited's revised mine plan the same morning.

The new site plan calls for a 13-square mile footprint, twice the size of Alaska’s Fort Knox Mine; a redesigned tailings waste pit, with a strengthened retention dam; the relocation of all facilities into two drainages rather than three; deploying a ferry across a large lake to reduce the number of road miles built over wetlands; and leaving out the proposed cyanide leaching plant. "Secondary gold recovery at a gold mine [cyanide extraction] is a pretty big deal – for us it's about 15 percent of the gold. We're not going to bring cyanide into the region . . . we're going to leave that 15 percent of gold in the rock at the mine site," Collier said.

If Pebble clears its EPA permitting process and gets federal permission to proceed, it has an additional obstacle: a successful 2014 ballot measure intended to prohibit it. Alaska's voters approved the "Bristol Bay Forever" initiative by a margin of 66 to 34, according to Collier. "It's our intention to file litigation in the next several months to have that declared unconstitutional," he said Thursday.

If you do not know who Tom Collier is:
Mr. Thomas Cleveland Collier, also known as Tom has been Chief Executive Officer of Pebble Limited Partnership at Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. since February 1, 2014 and serves as its President and Chief Operating Officer of Pebble Limited Partnership. Mr. Collier has been Chief Executive Officer of The Pebble Limited Partnership since February 04, 2014. Mr. Collier is a Partner in the Washington firm of Steptoe & Johnson LLP, & is a member of the Regulatory & Industry Affairs Department. Mr. Collier practices in the dispute resolution, environmental and natural resources areas. He served as the Chief of Staff and Chief Operating Officer of the Department of Interior until July 1, 1995. He assisted the Secretary in formulating Departmental priorities and in organizing the Department to accomplish those priorities. He also chaired Department staff meetings and coordinated the efforts of the Assistant Secretaries. Prior to his recent government service, Mr. Collier was a Partner at Steptoe in Washington focusing on dispute resolution, environmental law, government procurement law and white-collar criminal defense work. His practice over the years has concentrated on finding unique ways to resolve disputes and on management of large protracted litigation in the following areas: environmental, insurance defense, antitrust, communications and government contracts. He began working at Steptoe in 1976, following a clerkship for Judge Charles Clark of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. In 1979, he left private practice to work at the Department of Housing and Urban Development where he became a Deputy Assistant Secretary. He returned to Steptoe in 1981. His law practice and his government work both helped develop his management and motivational skills. His practice often focuses on bringing adversaries together to resolve their differences. He served as a Director at Everyone Counts, Inc. He was Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources ("DNR") and Chief of Staff to former Alaska Governor. He served as senior external counsel to Northern Dynasty since 2011. He has played a senior role on several major projects that successfully secured federal permits in Alaska - including reauthorization of the Alyeska Pipeline Service Co.'s Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) and several developments undertaken by Conoco Phillips. Based on his industry experience, as well as his time serving as Chief of Staff for Bruce Babbitt at the US Department of the Interior, he has developed extensive knowledge of networks within key federal regulatory agencies - including the US Army Corps of Engineers and US Environmental Protection Agency. He was President of the Student Body at University of Virginia and was an Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review at University of Mississippi. Mr. Collier graduated from the University of Virginia with a BA in 1972 and from the University of Mississippi with a JD in 1975.

Hell, I don't know why they submitted a new version. With the current leadership of the EPA, they could have gotten the old version through with flying colors. Fortunately, there's orgs like NRDC that will delay this - hopefully until the next election and new appointment to head the EPA.

http://www.adn.com/alaska-news/envir...ler-mine-plan/


And for those with a little more time to read:

https://www.juniorminingnetwork.com/...afeguards.html

Almost everyone with an opinion on this proposed mine has a bias. I admit I'm biased; I guide there and I love the wilderness. Others are biased because there is a lot of money in the ground. Others don't want to see an end to a certain lifestyle and belief system (a belief that you leave the earth in better shape for your progeny). There are many disputed issues among the interested. But the one issue that is undisputed is the toxic tailings will have to be monitored forever - forever. What company is around "forever"? You take so you can be wealthier, ravage the landscape, imperil the fish and wildlife, and move on to the next area that can make you wealthier, eventually leaving less and less wilderness, pave paradise.

Collier is a very smart guy and an liar out on a limb. The man's soul rotted is with greed. He does not care about anything except what he can gain with his knowledge of the legal process. From his CCN interview I see him as a well practiced lawyer in the process of intimidation and attack on one's assumptions as well as the use of them. Desperate and nasty this guy knows the ropes... let's hope he hangs himself.