Canadian based Northern Dynasty Minerals, which owns Pebble Limited Partnership, is preparing to appeal the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) rejection last month of the Compensatory Mitigation Plan (CMP) for the Pebble Project.
The US Army Corps of Engineers issued a negative record of decision for the proposed mine. In January 2021, the Pebble Partnership’s request for appeal is expected to argue that the US Army Corps of Engineers mitigation requirements for Pebble are contrary to policy and precedent in Alaska, and the agency’s rejection of its Compensatory Mitigation Plan is procedurally and substantively invalid.
“The US Army Corps of Engineers issued a finding this summer that Pebble would cause ‘significant degradation’ to aquatic resources in the project area, and on that basis issued mitigation requirements that were both extreme and unprecedented in Alaska,” said Northern Dynasty President & CEO Ron Thiessen. “Although we believe the USACE’s ‘significant degradation’ finding to be contrary to law and unsupported by the administrative record as established by the Environmental Impact Statement (“EIS”), we set out in good faith to meet their demand for in-kind and in-watershed mitigation at a very high and unprecedented ratio for Alaska – and after a tremendous amount of professional effort and investment, we did it.
“For the USACE to summarily reject a CMP that is directly responsive to its requirements, to do it on the basis of what we believe to be largely minor and arbitrary deficiencies and without giving the proponent an opportunity to respond to those alleged deficiencies or otherwise amend its application is, we believe, without precedent in the long history of responsible resource development in Alaska.”
As proposed, the Pebble Project would impact 3,650 acres of wetlands and other bodies of water, as well as 185 miles of streams. As a result, Pebble Partnership proposed the creation of a 112,445 acre Koktuli Conservation Area on state-owned land in the Koktuli watershed. According to Northern Dynasty, doing so would preserve 27,886 acres of wetlands, 1,174 acres of other waters and 814 miles (1,967 acres) of streams in the immediate vicinity of the Pebble Project.
Thiessen said Northern Dynasty and the Pebble Partnership believe the vast majority of CMP deficiencies identified by the USACE after a negative record of for the Pebble Project was announced are minor and arbitrary. He noted that many of the USACE’s objections to Pebble’s CMP are contradicted by its acceptance of CMPs submitted for other Alaska-based resource development projects.