A report by former Secretary of Defense and U.S. Senator William Cohen was published today regarding the litigation between Pebble Limited Partnership and Environmental Protection Agency.
Pebble CEO John Shively said the mining company asked Cohen to independently review the case last year and his official findings were released today in Washington D.C.
Shively: “Basically he says that the EPA should not have gone through this process, that it was not appropriate, that they should wait for us to go into permitting and also that he believes that they had a predetermined outcome when they started the process.”
A release issued with the report by The Cohen Group stated:
“The review focused solely on evaluating the process by which EPA assessed, and proposed restrictions to reduce, the environmental risks associated with potential mining in the Bristol Bay watershed. The review did not investigate whether or not a mine should be built, nor does it comment on the legality of EPA’s actions.”
The case that Pebble brought against the EPA alleges that the regulatory agency violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act with closed meetings.
Shively: “So the law requires that if they have an advisory committee there’s a whole set of rules that they have to follow including having the committee have a balanced membership. What we claim is that the EPA was actually using our opposition as a de facto advisory committee or actually three advisory committees when they did the Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment and therefore that assessment is invalid.”
The EPA is arguing that its meetings and communications with opponents of the proposed Bristol Bay mine do not embody advisory committees.
Recently Pebble subpoenaed over 60 groups and people from Anchorage to Washington D.C., requesting information from up to a decade ago.
Some of those, like environmental activist Tim Troll, have filed motions to quash the subpoenas, stating Pebble is trying to silence the voices of opposition to their mine.