Northern Dynasty Minerals, the parent company of Pebble Limited Partnership, reports that its request for appeal of the federal permitting decision regarding the Pebble Project challenges key conclusions reached by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in relation to the project’s economic benefits and costs.
The appeal states that the Corps’ Public Interest Review for the Pebble Project, which was published in November 2020, along with the Record of Decision, is contrary to the law and is inconsistent with the record including the Final Environmental Impact Statement. Northern Dynasty states that the social and economic impact of the Corps decision in the review give “undue weight to speculative harms not supported by the record while giving little weight to the Project’s undisputed benefits to local communities, the region, and the State.”
The Corps of Engineers accepted the appeal last month and an officer has been appointed to oversee the administrative process. Federal guidelines indicate that the appeal should conclude within 90 days, but because of the complex nature of the issues, the review likely will take much longer.
Pebble states that the Corps findings are unsubstantiated. The appeal states that the economic detriments associated with Pebble that was cited by the Corps of Engineers are vague and speculative, whereas the significant, long-term benefits of the project are documented in the impact statement. Some of the benefits from the final environmental impact statement include multiple full-time, year-round jobs; reduced transportation and energy costs; economic impacts on minority and low-income communities; possibly offsetting the high rate of outmigration in southwest Alaska; and millions of dollars in government revenues over the life of the project.
The Pebble Limited Partnership asserts that the record of decision’s findings on subsistence contradict the final environmental impact statement, calling them “pure conjecture”. The Pebble Partnership’s appeal objects to the Corps’ conclusion about post-closure economic detriments on multiple grounds, including that they’re not supported by record.
The full report from Northern Dynasty on the Pebble Project can be found here.
