Alaska Files Lawsuit Against EPA Over Pebble Mine Prohibitions

Alaska filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Thursday over what it called an “unlawful order” by the agency that blocked the development of state-owned land in the Bristol Bay area. The complaint challenges the agency’s 2023 final determination, which prohibits using the Bristol Bay watershed as a disposal site for dredged or fill material discharges associated with developing a mine at the Pebble deposit. The state said that filing a complaint serves to protect its interests as the landowner from “unlawful federal actions,” including being dispossessed of its right to manage its own property. “For the federal government to preemptively block any development on State lands in such a giant swath—200,000 acres—is a blatant affront to the sovereignty of Alaska and ignores our State’s many laws and regulatory programs that protect anadromous fish and other natural resources,” Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor said in a statement....