RE:NDM SUES TO LIFT BAN OR $700 BILLION RESTITUTIONAs per previous posts its all been an illegal over reach by Federal employees that have no power to shut anything down.......the EPA and the corp are on their last legs as per the new administration plans through D.O.G.E. Many agencies will no longer exist - EPA will be one of them, down sized and under a new administration - BANK on it
Regrouping to contest EPA's decision, the state sought to issue a special legal action that would see its case heard directly by the Supreme Court, bypassing the typical lower court and appeals process. In January, however, this more direct path to where the case will likely eventually land was denied.
Seeing no other course, the state filed for $700 billion in compensation on Thursday in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in the District of Columbia.
In its complaint, the state cited this number accounts for a rough estimate of the approximately 100 years of mining that could purportedly be done at Pebble – an asset that Alaska was depending on to aid its economic future.
"No land-use project in recent memory was more important to the state than the Pebble deposit," the complaint read. "It would have generated billions of dollars in revenue for the State and tens of thousands of jobs for Alaskans, many of whom are rural residents with limited economic opportunities."
Northern Dynasty and its subsidiary Pebble Limited Partnership filed their own lawsuits centered around the EPA veto that essentially shut down any possible mining at and around Pebble.
The first, which was filed on Thursday in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, seeks its own compensation for loss of opportunity to develop Pebble. Unlike the state's case, it does not seek a specific dollar amount, but does mention that Pebble Partnership has invested more than $1 billion to acquire, explore, and advance the world-class copper-gold-silver-molybdenum-rhenium project to the permitting stage.
Northern Dynasty's second legal action, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Anchorage, seeks to overturn the EPA's January 2023 decision of invoking a rarely used Clean Water Act provision to bar permitting of the Pebble project.
The company says the second lawsuit and overturning the mining ban is its top priority.
"Our priority is to advance the District Federal Court Complaint, because overturning the illegal veto removes a major impediment from the path of getting the permit to build the proposed mine," said Northern Dynasty President and CEO Ron Thiessen. "The filing of the takings complaint puts the U.S. government on notice that we will be seeking very substantial compensation if they continue to illegally block the lawful permitting process. It is basically an insurance policy, ensuring that this case is available to us when, or if, we decide to pursue it further."
"We are confident that the court will vacate the EPA veto and allow permitting of the Pebble project to resume because, as we have previously stated, the veto violated the law and was arbitrary and capricious," the company wrote.
The state, which is not endorsing mining at Pebble but believes the project should be allowed to complete the permitting process, also anticipates filing a separate suit in the U.S. District Court challenging EPA's decision that prevents that permitting process from running its course.