A group of Alaskan organizations opposed to Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd.'s Pebble copper-gold project near Bristol Bay is suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over its recent move to withdraw proposed rules it had imposed on the would-be mine ahead of federal permitting.
The EPA removed the rules, known as a proposed determination, in July after EPA General Counsel Matthew Leopold directed a regional director to reconsider them. The rules, put in place in 2014, governed how waste might be disposed if pebble were developed.
"By removing those protections, the administration not only broke the law, it made clear that local people will have no voice in the management of our rivers, streams and wetlands," the groups suing the EPA said in an Oct. 8 press release.
The EPA's latest move follows other reversals on the issue.
In 2017, Northern Dynasty took the EPA to court over the proposed determination, saying the agency's actions preempted a fair permitting process. The two sides settled with the EPA agreeing to revisit the rules.
But in 2018, the EPA, under former Administrator Scott Pruitt, decided not to withdraw them, citing potential harm to the fishing industry.
In its legal challenge, the groups allege the EPA violated administrative law in making an "arbitrary and capricious" decision.
The groups suing the EPA include the Bristol Bay Native Association, the United Tribes of Bristol Bay, the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association, the Bristol Bay Reserve Association and the Bristol Bay Economic Development Corp.
