Northern Dynasty’s Subsidiary Pebble Partnership Prepares Appeal for Alaska’s Pebble Project
[Click image to enlarge]
Northern Dynasty Minerals said its subsidiary Pebble Limited Partnership is preparing a comprehensive and substantive request for appeal (RFA) with respect to the US Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE) issuance of a negative Record of Decision (ROD) for the proposed Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum-silver-rhenium mine in southwest Alaska.
The ROD issued by the lead federal regulator for Alaska’s Pebble Project on November 25, 2020 denied the project a dredge and fill permit under the Clean Water Acton the grounds that its compensatory mitigation plan (CMP) is non-compliant and the project is not in the public interest. The Pebble Partnership has 60 days to submit its application for administrative appeal to the USACE’s Pacific Ocean Division Engineer headquartered in Hawaii.
“We will take a significant proportion of the time allotted to us to complete an exhaustive review of the administrative record pertinent to the Pebble Project environmental impact statement (EIS) and ROD, to prepare a comprehensive and substantive appeal and submit an RFA to the division engineer,” said Ron Thiessen, Northern Dynasty president and CEO.
“It is our view that this decision, the process by which it was reached and the facts upon which it is based stand as a significant outlier from standard USACE precedent and practice. We believe there is a sound basis for this permitting decision to be overturned,” added Thiessen.
Thiessen confirmed that Northern Dynasty and the Pebble Partnership intend to challenge the USACE’s permitting decision on procedural, substantive, and legal grounds. Among the substantive issues to be raised is Northern Dynasty’s contention that the ROD and, in particular, the public interest review (PIR) findings upon which it is based — are fundamentally unsupported by the Pebble Project EIS.
Under US regulatory law, permitting decisions for major development projects must be based on an administrative record, which, in Pebble’s case, includes the final EIS published by the USACE in July 2020.
Following receipt of an RFA, the USACE will have 30 days to notify the Pebble Partnership as to whether the appeal is complete. If complete, a review officer will be appointed and an appeal conference held between the parties within 60 days of receipt of the Pebble Partnership’s RFA.
USACE guidelines indicate the federal agency’s administrative appeal should conclude within 90 days.
“We believe the Pebble Project as proposed can meet the high environmental standards enforced in the Clean Water Act and other federal statutes, including co-existing with the world-class subsistence, commercial and sport fisheries of Bristol Bay,” said Thiessen.
“Perhaps more importantly in the near-term, we believe the findings of the record of cecision released by the USACE last week are both inconsistent with, and in places wholly contradictory to, the administrative record established for federal permitting decisions at Pebble by the Final EIS published in July 2020,” added Thiessen.
“We believe the facts are on our side, and we intend to pursue every avenue of appeal available to the company with vigor and determination,” concluded Thiessen.
About Northern Dynasty Minerals
Northern Dynasty is a mineral exploration and development company based in Vancouver, Canada. Northern Dynasty’s principal asset, owned through its wholly owned Alaska-based U.S. subsidiary, Pebble Limited Partnership is a 100 percent interest in a contiguous block of 2,402 mineral claims in southwest Alaska, including the Pebble deposit. PLP is the proponent of the Pebble Project, an initiative to develop one of the world’s most important mineral resources.
To stop by Northern Dynasty’s website, CLICK HERE
Be in-the-know when you’re on-the-go!
FREE eNews delivery service to your email twice-weekly. With a focus on lead-driven news, our news service will help you develop new business contacts on an on-going basis.
CLICK HERE to register your email address.
Copyright © 2020 Mining Connection LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission.
For licensing permission, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
