Both sides in Pebble debate cite EPA to bolster arguments

A May 28 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the proposed Pebble mine is being cited to bolster arguments on both sides of the controversial project.

Pebble is a large gold, copper and molybdenum deposit near Iliamna, southwest of Anchorage. Pebble Partnership, a subsidiary of Vancouver, B.C.-based Northern Dynasty Minerals, is proposing a large surface mine there.

Bristol Bay tribes, fisheries groups and Alaska Native corporations, oppose the mine, fearing contamination of salmon-bearing streams that support rich salmon fisheries.

May 28 was the deadline for EPA to notify the corps that it wished to retain an option to “elevate” issues with Pebble to higher levels among federal agencies if it disagreed with the corps.

Pebble Partnership CEO Tom Collier said EPA’s decision not to exercise its option indicates that it is satisfied with the corps’ work on a pending Final Environmental Impact Statement.

A letter the corps wrote indicates the corps’ process is “proceeding well and effectively addressing all issues and concerns raised by EPA, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other cooperative federal agencies.”

Collier said it was a positive step for the mine. EPA still retains its right to veto the project after the corps issues final permits under special terms of the federal Clean Water Act but the decision not to elevate at this stage is a signal that there will be no veto, Collier said.

Pebble opponents, however, said there was plenty in the EPA letter indicating that the agency still has serious concerns over the environmental effects.

“People shouldn’t read too much into the May 28 letter,” said Dan Cheyette, vice president for lands on Bristol Native Corp. Elevation is just part of a process, he said. It doesn’t change the underlying concerns.

EPA did say in the letter that it supports the corps’ decision to cite the alternative “north road” access for the project as least environmentally damaging, in lieu of a shorter southern road route and shuttle ferry across Lake Iliamna.

However, it also cited large losses of wetlands and impacts to streams on the northern access route. “The discharges of dredges or fill material associated (with the northern route) may well contribute to the permanent loss of 2,292 acres of wetlands and other waters including 105.4 miles of streams, along with secondary impacts to 1,647 acres of wetlands and other waters including 80.3 miles of streams associated with fugitive dust deposition (from mineral ore), dewatering and fragmentation of acquatic habitats,” the corps said in the letter.

EPA urged the corps to evaluate whether a mitigation plan put forward by the mine developer would reduce these impacts to an acceptable level. The agency also asked the corps to involve it in any changes proposed for the mitigation plan.

Also, EPA said in its letter that it was now aware of a state of Alaska finding that, “the sockeye salmon in the Koktuli River (near the proposed mine) represent a genetically distinct population of river-type salmon that is evolutionarily important and distinctly unique within the Bristol Bay watershed and Alaska.”

This information should be included in the permit record developed by the corps for the project, the letter said.

The finding of a genetically distinct salmon population could set the stage for an Endangered Species Act battle, one of many legal controversies that could lie ahead for Pebble.

Pebble Partnership is upbeat about prospects for the mine, however. The Army corps, “continues to advance a rigorous dnd transparent review of all aspects and alternatives of our project,” Pebble Partnership CEO Collier said.

“It has involved cooperating agencies from the federal, state, local and private governments in its review of many technical challenges facing the project. The permitting process for the project is reasonable and objective,” he said.

Army corps officials said they intend to complete the Final Environmental Impact Statement for Pebble this summer and to issue a formal Record of Decision, or ROD, in the fall.

The ROD would set out the final decisions on the mine and its access along with an approved set of mitigation requirements.

It would also trigger the major federal permits for Pebble, mainly a Section 404 dredge and fill permit issued under the federal Clean Water Act.

The state of Alaska must also issue its permits including an important dam safety permit. Pebble Partnership has not yet applied for those.