ANCHORAGE, Ala. — September 30, 2014 — An Alaska District Count judge dismissed a case Friday brought by the Pebble Limited Partnership and State of Alaska against the Environmental Protection Agency for exercising its responsibilities under the Clean Water Act for a public review of a plan to protect some of the world’s greatest salmon runs, in Alaska’s Bristol Bay.
The Court granted the motion to dismiss the case challenging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's statutory authority to pre-emptively impose development restrictions on the Pebble Project prior to the submission of a proposed development plan. This ruling did not judge the merits of the statutory authority case, it only deferred that hearing and judgment until after a final determination has been made by the EPA.
Pebble Limited Partnership proposes to build a gold and copper mine that would create a pit nearly as deep as the Grand Canyon, the biggest mine of its type in the world, in the headwaters of the world’s greatest salmon fishery.
The EPA proposed restrictions on the development of the site that were undergoing public review. Pebble Limited Partnership and the State of Alaska sued the agency, attempting to halt the process midcourse, before a final decision could be made. On September 26th, Judge H. Russel Holland ruled that the EPA’s public review must be allowed to proceed.
"The ruling today [Friday] relates to timing of our challenge of this pre-emptive authority and in no way decides the underlying issues," said Pebble Partnership CEO Tom Collier. "We remain very confident in the merits of this case. Should EPA finalize its proposed veto restrictions regarding Pebble, we will pursue our claim that EPA lacks statutory authority to do so at that time."
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