When I have a question I call Jim Sims and I am always very pleased with the detailed response I get from him.
In the last two weeks we see overwhelming support from federal Government and now from the governor of Nebraska.
here Jims' reply
The Governor’s strategy in making this nomination was to ensure that the top regulators overseeing our primary federal permitting process – the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – were the direct recipients of his nomination letter to the President.
His letter was also sent to the White House, (as per protocol). The specific process for handling nominations under that particular Executive Order is still being formulated by the White House. This is not surprising given the many Executive Orders that have been issued since January, and the fact that each one requires a significant effort by White House staff to process and implement.
This is why the Governor correctly targeted the Corps as the primary recipient of the nomination conveyance letter. That approach makes this process more efficient from the perspective of the Corps, the Company, and all concerned. It sends just the right message to just the right audience. The Governor’s staff are pros at this kind of initiative.
As you know, we have already received from the Corps our Section 404 permit for 99.9%+ of our project – everything except for the last several hundred feet of our 30-mile waterline to the Missouri and the small outfall structure that will sit in the river. The processes to obtain our 404 and 408 permits for that small portion of the project are underway, and we do not anticipate anything out of the ordinary to complete them and obtain those permits. However, the Governor’s nomination of our project as a High Priority Infrastructure Project will certainly help to ensure that those processes go as efficiently as possible. That is all that we ever ask from permitting authorities.
The Corps is a very good agency to work with, by the way, as compared to other federal agencies. However, you may remember that the Jurisdictional Delineation process that the Corps ran for our project took a year and a half, even though federal law requires that it be done in 60 days. Every little bit helps in encouraging all federal agencies to work as efficiently as possible.
The Governor’s nomination of the Niocorp project as a High-Priority Infrastructure Project also sends a powerful message to other audiences: the Nebraska state regulatory agencies; the Pentagon; the Congress; potential consumers of our products; the news media; local Nebraska citizens; potential institutional investors; and others. Clearly, his strategy behind this initiative is multi-layered.
NioCorp is extraordinarily grateful to the Governor for nominating the Elk Creek Project. I think he sees, as we do, very broad and positive implications for the United States from the success of this project, as well as the major economic boost it will provide to the State of Nebraska.
is this satisfactory as as an answer?
