Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd (NAK)

[Joe Kaplan]

Action Seeks to overturn EPA’s illegal veto 03.15.24 NEWS

One action, in Federal District Court in Alaska, seeks to vacate the Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) veto of a development at Pebble. This is the main focus of our legal actions. 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 complaint in this action alleges, among many other points, the veto was issued in violation of various federal statutes regarding Alaska’s statehood rights and a land exchange approved by Congress; it was based on an overly broad legal interpretation of EPA’s jurisdiction which has since been over-ruled by the Supreme Court; its geographic scope exceeds that allowed by the statute; it was based on information previously developed by EPA in an illegal preemptive veto process that was designed to reach a predetermined result; and the factual basis stated to support the veto is directly contradicted by the July 2020 Environmental Impact Statement published by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (“USACE”), which is an important part of the administrative record. The EPA has not demonstrated that either the development of the Pebble deposit will have unacceptable adverse effects under Section 404(c), or that there are any impacts to Bristol Bay fisheries that would justify the extreme measures in the final determination (veto).