A federal judge on Tuesday upheld the government’s approval of a federally backed mine in Idaho and rejected environmental groups’ request to halt construction.
Judge Amanda Brailsford of the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho dismissed a push by groups — including Save the South Fork Salmon, Idaho Conservation League, Idaho Rivers United, Earthworks, Center for Biological Diversity and American Rivers — to stop work on Perpetua Resources’ Stibnite Gold Project in the headwaters of the South Fork Salmon River.
Bailsford, a Biden appointee, rebuffed the groups’ assertions that the federal government’s approval violated bedrock environmental laws like the National Environmental Policy Act and other federal statutes.
The ruling puts an end to the group’s legal challenges in district court, which were filed last year against the departments of Interior and Commerce and other agencies. The groups argued at the time that excavating three open-pit mines would result in the creation of 280 million tons of waste rock and threaten public health and vulnerable species.
