Alaska

While Members of Congress spent some time in their home districts last month, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy traveled to Alaska to discuss the President’s climate action plan and hear arguments from stakeholders in the Bristol Bay area on the proposed Pebble mine.

Opponents of the project used the occasion to once more push for a preemptive veto, saying that EPA should “finalize its assessment, and initiate action under the Clean Water Act to stop the Pebble Mine.” In doing so, they are looking to bypass the very framework they have been hailing as the “Magna Carta” of environmental protections – the process set forth under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which, in their own words is “awesome” as it “gives the public a seat at the table, and the chance to use it effectively, by bringing impacts and options out into the open.”

Meanwhile, Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski is calling for due process, a position ARPN has consistently supported. As Robert Dillon, spokesperson for the Senator told The Daily Caller:

“As Sen. Murkowski has consistently said, her concern is that the EPA is going beyond its authority in circumventing the established federal permitting process and setting a dangerous precedent for proposed economic development projects nationwide,” (…)

“The permitting process exists for a reason and a federal agency can no more ignore the established process than can an applicant,” Dillon added. “If the EPA has concerns about the impact of a project there is an appropriate time to raise them after a permit application has been made and the required analyses have been completed. Attempting to prejudge a hypothetical project is neither scientific or productive.”

Indeed, – and as environmentalists have acknowledged – the NEPA process simply guarantees that the environment is taken into account- and gives the public, the state, other agencies, and the applicant their chance to weigh in. More importantly, it allows for the identification of potential environmental impacts and the development of mitigation measures to reduce or eliminate possible harm.

Ultimately, NEPA uses the give and take of a public review to make projects better and safer for the environment. Allowing for due process under NEPA should be a “no-brainer.”

The fact that environmentalists are not interested in granting a fair and full review in this particular case speaks volumes.

The Daily Caller Foundation’s Michael Bastasch, who has consistently offered thorough coverage of some of the most pressing mineral- and mining-related issues, last week took a closer look at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s spending on the agency’s controversial Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment.

According to Bastasch, during a recent U.S. Senate hearing, “Ken Kopocis, President Obama’s nominee for assistant administrator for the EPA’s water office, said that the agency had spent $2.4 million in external costs,” implying that the actual cost is even higher, as the figure does not take into account internal EPA cost, for which Kopocis was unable to provide numbers.

This is particularly relevant, as the assessment appears to be part of a concerted effort to preemptively derail a promising mining project, and was conducted in spite of the fact that no permit requests had been filed or substantive plans had been submitted. These figures surface on the heels of previous reports of lavish EPA spending of $169,381 on a peer review meeting held this summer on the assessment (which comes out to $10,586 per person).

A project like Pebble isn’t significant simply for the thousands of jobs directly at stake; rather, the outcome of a preemptive veto decision would affect similar future efforts at the potential cost of tens or hundreds of thousands — even millions of jobs. It all starts with a single project, a single metal; Bristol Bay is just the beginning.

With the public commenting period for the EPA’s revised Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment now closed, Environment and Energy Publishing’s Manuel Quinones zeroes in on the comments submitted to the agency in his latest piece for E&E Daily (subscription required). According to the article, the battle lines are drawn on the push by environmentalist groups for [...]

The following op-ed by American Resources Principal Dan McGroarty was published in the Wall Street Journal on July 5, 2013. The original text can be found here. A Potential Copper Bonanza Runs Afoul of the EPA The metal is essential for wind turbines, but a proposed mine in Alaska has set off Keystone-like alarms. By Daniel [...]

American Resources President Dan McGroarty made his second appearance on the Glen Biegel Show in Anchorage, AK on Monday to discuss the U.S. mining permitting process and the proposed Pebble mine. Listen below.    

Alaska continues to be a state leader when it comes to formulating mineral resource policy. In line with Gov. Sean Parnell’s five-part strategy to support the mining industry, the State Senate has passed a resolution in support of in-state Rare Earths exploration, which urges state agencies and the federal government to lend its support to [...]

As the Juneau Empire’s Russell Stigall reports, the State of Alaska’s efforts to map Alaska’s “mineral potential from the land and air” are in full swing. Thanks to the state’s – and particularly Southeast Alaska’s – rich geology, state geologists, including Bob Swenson, state geologist and director of the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical [...]

We’re thrilled to announce that Curtis J. Freeman, president of Avalon Development Corporation, has joined the American Resources panel of issue experts. A U.S. Certified Professional Geologist and licensed geologist in the State of Alaska, Mr. Freeman founded Avalon Development Corporation, a mineral exploration consulting firm based in Fairbanks, Alaska in 1985. Mr. Freeman and [...]

As the Daily Caller reports, the House Committee on Oversight & Government Reform is stepping up the pressure on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the context of the agency’s controversial negative review of a potential mining project in Alaska’s Bristol Bay area. Reiterating a request made in May of 2012, when the EPA [...]

This is part three of American Resources’ three-part 2012 retrospective. Check out parts one here and two. Traditionally, the New Year is the time when people reflect on the past twelve months and formulate resolutions for the months ahead. As the first hours of 2013 have been dominated by the drama the Fiscal Cliff, our [...]