Business
Northern Dynasty Minerals: Pebble Partnership appeal challenges ‘significant degradation’ finding for proposed copper-gold-molybdenum-silver-rhenium mine in southwest Alaska
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / February 10, 2021 / Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. (TSX:NDM) (NYSE:NAK) ("Northern Dynasty" or the "Company") reports that its rece
About this update from Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd.
[{"type":"text","content":" VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / February 10, 2021 / Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. (TSX:NDM) (NYSE:NAK) (\"Northern Dynasty\" or the \"Company\") reports that its recently submitted Request for Appeal (\"RFA\") of a federal permitting decision concerning Alaska's Pebble Project challenges a key finding of ‘significant degradation'. Prepared and submitted by the Company's 100%-owned US-based subsidiary Pebble Limited Partnership (the \"Pebble Partnership\"), the RFA argues the US Army Corps of Engineers' (\"USACE\") finding that the proposed copper-gold-molybdenum-silver-rhenium mine would cause ‘significant degradation' to a local watershed is: inconsistent with the law and Clean Water Act (CWA) regulations; arbitrary and unsupported by the administrative record, including the Final Environmental Impact Statement (\"FEIS\") for the Pebble Project; and, unprecedented in Alaska and detrimental to the future of resource development in the state. In response to shareholder enquiries, Northern Dynasty intends to highlight many of the compelling arguments within the Pebble Partnership's 56-page (plus appendices) RFA in the coming weeks. A complete version of the document can be viewed at: https://northerndynastyminerals.com/site/assets/files/4888/plp-request-for-appeal-poa-2017-00271-jan-19-2021.pdf. Following receipt of the Pebble Partnership's ‘request for appeal' on January 19, 2021, the USACE has 30 days to notify the appellant as to whether its RFA is complete. USACE guidelines indicate the administrative appeal process should conclude within 90 days, although it may be extended under certain circumstances. Inconsistent with law and CWA regulations In June 2020, the USACE informed the Pebble Partnership of its ‘significant degradation' finding, based on its view the proposed mine would have a ‘more than trivial' impact on a ‘preponderance' of factors cited in CWA regulations for measuring effects on aquatic resources. The determination at Pebble relates to direct and indirect project effects within the Koktuli watershed. In its RFA, the Pebble Partnership argues the ‘more than trivial' standard employed by the USACE is not the correct test for assessing a project's impact on aquatic resources or making a ‘significant degradation' finding. \"USACE guidance instead provides that ‘significant' means ‘major': the Guidelines on Analysis...