RE: In the News"The water board, the judge ruled, has jurisdiction over water quality, and not just at the point where it leaves the mine site."
This is a key phrase in the article. If this phase is accurate, it would appear the issue was not about discharge but the water board did not want to let them even use any incoming water at all because it would be polluted even if it stayed within the operation.
This is totally unreasonable. If this is so, attacking the water boards jurisdiction was the wrong approach for the lawyers to take. They should have initiated a law suit claiming the water board stepped beyond its mandate and was doing harm to the company.
If this is the water boards position that no water at all could be used as it would be polluted even if it stays within a closed circuit then no mining operation could ever operate in the Yukon.