From another NAK discussion site:
I just spent 30+ minutes on the phone with the next level up exec at ACOE located in Hawaii. Here are the points of interests .
NAK supplied all necessary requested info on time for the appeal to be complete and eligible for review. The 90 day timeline is totally meaningless...it is purely a guideline for them to follow. The current holdup/delay is a function of the Alaska office of the ACOE not having delivered the entire ADMINISTRATIVE RECORD to their superiors who are located in Hawaii. The Washington office oversees the Hawaiian office. They have no mandated timelines to supply the data internally so obviously there will be no decision until it is received and reviewed. The original appeal was ~ 1000 pages. The requested complete Administrative Record has to include every email, text message, record of phone calls and every written correspondence relating to the entire project over its existence...... I was told that info is in excess of 100,000 pages and has to be reviewed in its entirety by this level.
If there are issues that they are not comfortable with to make a decision on the appeal then it goes to DC .
The ACOE rep I spoke to was talking in terms of a year or two the way the government works. On the flip side he said that should these documents not contain any new or revealing info then the process could proceed at a reasonable pace....but it takes time to read all of that info. It appears as if the political football is being passed along and the can kicked down the road. Both political parties have done untold damage to this project first with Obama’s EPA acting illegally and DJT JR opening his big mouth .
The biggest catalyst potentially for the project will be the recognition of its national security importance and the mine’s potential for copper and rare earth minerals. If US is to go to alternative energy we will sure as heck need all of this copper as alternative sources come from politically dangerous places as DRC and elsewhere . The rare earth constituents are necessary for military applications and we can be shut out by our enemies. My take from the conversation is that these guys are in no hurry to complete anything, have no deadlines , and are aware of the many political pressure groups from both sides. I asked about the FEIS being positive then the followup denial and the answer was “ outside forces can influence outcomes”. Need I say any more? He also mentioned several times that the final outcome will quite possibly be based in litigation and its outcome. As I see it....we all own a non expiring long term leap option contract...not a company. It is an abstraction. We own a .50c leap with no expiration date in the contract. I was given this contact after calling NAK and requesting it as he could offer me no additional info as the process is entirely out of their hands. They have complied with all requests for info and supplied everything.it is totally out of their hands.
The best solution here is obviously a reversal of the denial . The next best solution is them upholding the denial and progressing immediately to litigation . The company is prepared for this and there are legal firms willing to jump on this on a contingency basis. I’m just sitting on my position forever....hopefully my grandkids collect bigtime or there is a political/economic emergency event that makes this happen.
FYI the new Republican candidate going against Murkowski is worth investigating. Hopefully she wins the primary and displaces her.
