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Northern Dynasty: US Federal District Court Rejects Litigation Filed by Pebble Opponents
US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) action to withdraw pre-emptive veto upheld VANC...
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[{"type":"text","content":"Northern Dynasty: US Federal District Court Rejects Litigation Filed by Pebble OpponentsUS Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) action to withdraw pre-emptive veto upheldVANCOUVER, CANADA / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2020 / Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. (TSX:NDM)(NYSE American:NAK) (\"Northern Dynasty\" or the \"Company\") reports that, on Friday April 17, a US federal district court judge in Alaska granted the US Environmental Protection Agency's (\"EPA\") ‘Motion to Dismiss' a case brought by a collection of anti-Pebble activist groups.The litigation challenged EPA's July 2019 decision to formally withdraw its prior regulatory action under Section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act (initiated in 2014 by the Obama Administration), which sought to pre-emptively veto the Pebble Project before permit applications had been filed or an Environmental Impact Statement (\"EIS\") permitting process was undertaken. In granting the Motion to Dismiss, US District Judge Sharon L. Gleason found the anti-Pebble activists had \"failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted\".In a statement released April 18, 2020, Pebble Limited Partnership (\"Pebble Partnership\" or \"PLP\") CEO Tom Collier said the US legal system has once again re-affirmed the Pebble Project's right to receive a fair and objective permitting review under the Clean Water Act (\"CWA\") and National Environmental Policy Act (\"NEPA\"). He said the court decision received last week removes yet another obstacle to receiving a Final EIS and Record of Decision on the Pebble Project by mid-2020.***The Pebble Partnership statement released April 18, 2020 quotes PLP CEO Tom Collier:\"For years, we have sought basic fairness for the Pebble Project to be fully vetted under the regular permitting process and to block attempts to preempt that fundamental right. Once again, a coalition of anti Pebble groups including national environmental groups like the Natural Resources Defense Council have been proven wrong in their ad hominem attacks on Pebble. This time a Federal District Judge in Alaska has ruled that their most recent attack did not even state a cause of action that required review by the court. Therefore, their lawsuit against EPA was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. \"We have long held that the preemptive veto against Pebble was poor public policy and that decision...