PROTECTING WILD ALASKA

natural resources,” Dunleavy said in a 2021 statement that promised to appeal decisions that would shelf Pebble.

Fast forward to this summer and Dunleavy and Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor want the Supreme Court to essentially reverse the EPA’s decision to permanently block the Pebble Mine.

On July 26, the state announced its intention to take the fight to the highest court in the land, saying it was “calling on the US Supreme Court to order the EPA to correct its wrongdoing.”

“Our constitution is clear: Alaska is responsible for utilizing, developing, and conserving all of the state’s natural resources for the maximum benefit of its people,” Dunleavy said. “Bureaucrats in Washington, DC are exercising unbridled and unlawful power to choke off any further discussion on this important decision affecting so many Alaskans.”

The state’s brief stated that no other state but Alaska has natural resources it constitutionally must protect.

“Nonetheless, EPA made its final determination under Section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act before the state processes could work through the Pebble Project,” the filing asserted.

“The preemptive veto is alarming,” Taylor added. “If EPA can rely on undefined terms and subjective standards instead of sound science to bypass the regular state and federal permitting processes here, it can do it anywhere, from large mining projects such as this, down to a family building their dream home. It’s an indefensible and unprecedented power grab that the US Supreme Court should find unlawful.”

The mine’s parent company, Northern Dynasty Minerals, was thrilled that the state is seeking a reversal from the Supreme Court.

“The Bill of Complaint filed by Alaska is a welcome development in the long Pebble saga,” Ron Thiessen, president and CEO of Northern Dynasty, said in a statement. “Northern Dynasty strongly, and I mean very strongly, supports all of the arguments set forth by the state and we congratulate the state for bringing these claims directly to the

US Supreme Court. Northern Dynasty intends to prepare and file with the Supreme Court appropriate briefs to support the state’s case.”

‘WORKING AGAINST THE WISHES OF MOST ALASKANS’

As the Pebble project slowly began to fall apart – in the past couple years, the mine’s once approved permit was reversed, its parent company CEO Tom Collier resigned in disgrace, EPA finalized Bristol Bay protections and stockholders brought a class-action suit upon Northern Dynasty Minerals after allegations they were “duped” by the company – opponents celebrated but continually acknowledged that the fight wasn’t over. This latest course of action by the state brings its own set of challenges and concerns.

The prevailing reaction to Alaska’s governor and attorney general going to SCOTUS was that the majority of state residents who have rejected the mine are being ignored.

“Alaskans have been unwavering in