Developers of the massive Pebble mine in Alaska’s pristine Bristol Bay watershed, home to one of the world’s premier salmon habitats, sued EPA on Friday to overturn the agency’s rare veto of their project.
Canada-based Northern Dynasty Minerals and Pebble LP, a subsidiary of Dynasty, have filed two separate lawsuits challenging EPA’s decision and asking the federal government to pony up money they lost when the project was blocked.
The proposed copper and gold mine in Alaska has remained a lightning rod in the courts, on Capitol Hill and in Alaska, resulting in years of litigation. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court declined to take up the state of Alaska’s challenge of EPA’s decision.
Northern Dynasty and the partnership are taking aim at EPA’s move last year to finalize a rare veto under the Clean Water Act, a decision that developers had vowed to fight in court, calling the move illegal and unprecedented.
