Supreme Court Reverses Ruling Against Gold Mine Waste Disposal Into Alaska Lake

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - The Supreme Court on Monday reversed a federal appeals court ruling against the dumping of slurry from a gold mine into an Alaskan lake.

Voting 6-3, the justices ruled that the federal permit of the Idaho-based Coeur d'Alene Mines Corp. to dump 200,000 gallons a day of mining waste water into Lower Slate Lake in the Tongass National Forest for 10 years does not violate the Clean Water Act.

The waste apparently has been classified as fill material, which is not covered by the zero-discharge standards of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the said federal law.

Fill material should be regulated by the Army Corps of Engineers and not the EPA, said Justice Anthony Kennedy in a majority opinion reversing the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals' May 2007 ruling that the permit violates the Act. The Army Corps issued the permit to the mining firm in 2005.

Meanwhile, Earthjustice, a non-profit public interest law firm that specializes in environmental litigation, called on President Obama to repeal a ruling by the Bush administration in 2002 allowing industries to dump their solid wastes in waters and restore the original intent of the Clean Water Act.

"If a mining company can turn Lower Slate Lake in Alaska into a lifeless waste dump, other polluters with solids in their wastewater can potentially do the same to any water body in America," said Earthjustice president Trip Van Noppen in a press statement.

"As this case has shown, it is essential that the misguided 'fill' rule be reversed before more of our waters are lost and the communities and economies that depend on them are harmed. President Obama's administration and Congress can and should act to reverse it as soon as possible," said Carl Pope, executive director of Sierra Club, an environmental group which, together with Earthjustice, Southeast Alaska Conservation Council and Lynn Canal Conservation sued the Army Corps for the permit.

Couer chief executive Dennis E. Wheeler said the decision clears the way for a tailings facility to be built so that the gold mining can begin in the second half of next year, according to Adn.com.

Tony Ebersole, Coeur's director of corporate communications, told Adn.com the mine will create 300 construction jobs and 370 direct and indirect jobs. The mine is expected to produce 125,000 ounces of gold per year.

Ebersole added that after the mining ends and the lake is restocked, "the lake will be as good or better as a fishery than it is today."