Lisa Murkowski (R) and Mark Begich (D) are leading an effort to ensure the US Army Corps of Engineers quickly completes permitting for the Kensington gold mine in southeast Alaska. Murkowski and Begich recently sent two letters to the Corps detailing the urgent need for the Corps to complete permitting for the mine. They are very disturbed that a project that has complied with all that is asked of it is still being delayed by bureaucracy.
In an August 3 letter, the two senators highlighted their objections to recent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) efforts to slow down permitting activity, despite a recent US Supreme Court decision that upheld the legality of the mine’s Section 404 Clean Water Act Permit. The high court ruled in June that Coeur Alaska had a valid 404 permit from the Corps to dispose of tailings from the Kensington mine into Lower Slate Lake. Despite the court’s ruling, EPA has insisted the Corps re-evaluate the tailings disposal plan.
“After nearly two decades of review and legal challenges, it’s time to respect the Supreme Court’s decision and allow this important economic project to move forward,” Murkowski said in an August 4 joint statement with Begich. “Residents of the region have been waiting long enough for the 300 good jobs the Kensington Mine will produce,” said Begich. “Now that the US Supreme Court has acted, let’s get to work developing this project.”
A second letter was sent to the Corps in July from Murkowski and Begich and 10 fellow senators that called on the Corps to reject any further permitting delay and raised concerns about the potential precedent of allowing EPA to challenge Corps-issued permits. Joining Begich and Murkowski were Sens. James Risch (R-Idaho), Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), James Inhofe (R-Okla.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Bob Bennett (R-Utah), Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), John Thune (R-S.D.), Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) and Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii).
“We have signed this letter because of the far-reaching implications that decisions related to Kensington mine could have – not just in Alaska, but throughout the United States,” the senators wrote. “At the heart of the debate is whether a project that has complied with all environmental laws, that has gone out of its way to institute training and local hire of Native Americans, and has withstood years of legal challenge and won in the Supreme Court, can now be killed through additional bureaucratic delays,” the letter said.