Vandaag liep de deadline voor EPA af om nog commentaar te leveren en uitstel te vragen op de permit procedure.
Op 26 feb ontving men ten burele van de Army Corps of Engineers wat volgende bericht:
Weer uitstel aangevraagd, ditmaal tot voorbij 28 mei (de formulering is wat onduidelijk) maar geen 'elevation process' ingezet. dit laatste is erg belangrijk. Director Leopold van EPA wil vermoedelijk niet de schijn van een 'rushed procedure' op zich laden voor zijn achterban, en koerst zo te zien nog steeds af op een positief oordeel over de DEIS.
Nu nog verder dippen in de koers en de verkochte NDM aandelen op nog lagere koers toevoegen aan de NAK positie.
S&J.
BRISTOL BAY
EPA postpones Pebble decision
Dylan Brown, E&E News reporter
Published: Wednesday, February 26, 2020
Bristol Bay. Photo credit: Robert Glenn Ketchum/Natural Resources Defense Council
EPA has asked for more time to determine the impacts of the proposed Pebble mine in Bristol Bay, Alaska. Robert Glenn Ketchum/Natural Resources Defense Council
EPA requested more time once again today to determine whether the proposed Pebble mine threatens Bristol Bay in southwestern Alaska.
For the third time in the past year, EPA General Counsel Matt Leopold asked Army Corps of Engineers chief R.D. James for an extension on deciding whether to start the "elevation" process for the major gold and copper mine upstream from Alaska's premier salmon fishery.
Under Section 404(q) of the Clean Water Act, if EPA has issues with an Army Corps permit, the two agencies enter into negotiations to resolve them.
Under a 1992 agreement with the Army Corps' Alaska District, EPA must send a letter stating that a project "will have substantial and unacceptable impacts to an Aquatic Resource of National Importance."
Sources told E&E News that language made Leopold uncomfortable, despite his agency's own comments that the Army Corps' draft environmental impact statement for Pebble may "underpredict" impacts on water quality and salmon (Greenwire, July 8, 2019).
"Elevation" is generally the precursor to an EPA veto. Leopold last year scrapped an Obama-era proposed veto on mining in Bristol Bay.
Instead, Leopold has twice asked the Army Corps to give EPA until 30 days after a final permit is issued.
The Army Corps has rejected that request but granted extensions both times.
EPA today requested that its deadline be pushed back from Friday to May 28.
Leopold cited technical meetings between EPA and Army Corps staff in recent months on the draft EIS, "which overlapped with some of the issues raised in EPA's comment letter."
On Feb. 7, the Army Corps distributed a preliminary final EIS to cooperating agencies.
"This additional time will allow EPA to review the PFEIS and continue engaging in discussions with the Corps to better evaluate the extent to which EPA's comments have been addressed before making any decisions," Leopold wrote today.