Army Corps issues new permit for Alaska gold mine
Posted on August 18th, 2009
By: Eric Bontrager
GreenWire: The Army Corps of Engineers has issued a revised permit for a controversial gold mine in southern Alaska, making only minor changes to the original permit affirmed by a Supreme Court decision earlier this year.
The Clean Water Act permit released Friday allows the discharge of wastes from Coeur d’Alene Mines’ Kensington mine into Lower Slate Lake despite U.S. EPA’s urging that the permit require more environmental protections.
The revised permit updates project plans and tables to reflect updated wetland maps and varies slightly from construction plans authorized under the original permit.
Coeur CEO Dennis Wheeler told investors today that with 90 percent of the mine’s construction completed, the company will move forward quickly and begin production next year. The mine is expected to produce 125,000 ounces of gold a year.
“The company looks forward to getting back to accomplishing the main objective, which is to construct and operate a world-class gold mine that all stakeholders will be proud of,” Wheeler said.
The revised permit, valid through 2014, updates the 2005 corps permit that was stalled by environmental groups that maintain the proposed waste-discharge plan would damage natural resources. Disposal of mine tailings is expected to raise the lake bottom 50 feet and kill all aquatic life.
More than 8,500 comments were received on the revised permit, including a letter from EPA asking the corps to consider an alternative that would involve storing mine tailings on land to protect Lower Slate Lake and Berners Bay.
But Alaska lawmakers balked at EPA’s suggestion, saying the agency was trying to stall a project that has already been vetted and affirmed by both the corps and the Supreme Court.
“The corps made the right call,” Gov. Sean Parnell (R) said in a statement after the corps issued the new permit. “They recognized that this project has been approved through the right processes, and there’s no reason for further delay.”
EPA did not respond to requests for comment.
Southeast Alaska Conservation Council executive director Lindsey Ketchel, whose group was one of several that took the corps to court over the permit, pledged to continue lobbying lawmakers and the agencies about the need for better mine-waste management.