The U.S. Supreme Court June 22 upheld Coeur d'Alene Mines Corp.’s tailings disposal permits at the Kensington gold mine located about 45 miles northwest of Juneau.
The decision came in response to a challenge to a permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that allows the proposed mine to dispose of tailings into the 23-acre Lower Slate Lake
The Southeast Alaska Conservation Council and other environmental groups fought the miner’s plan for wet disposal of the tailings and sued the Corps, arguing that the permits were illegal.
The State of Alaska, Coeur Alaska and federal regulators countered that the tailings, properly classified as fill, met requirements of the 404 permit issued by the Corps.
In a 6-3 vote, the high court ruled that raising the bottom of a lake with tailings qualifies the material as fill, making the Corps the appropriate agency under the Clean Water Act to issue the permits, and that the Corps lawfully issued the permits to Coeur Alaska.
Hailed as a landmark ruling, the High Court’s decision ends four years of litigation and paves the way for the Idaho-based miner to complete tailings facilities at Kensington and begin producing gold.
“We are also very grateful for the support during this process from the State of Alaska, the Alaska Congressional delegation, Southeast Alaska Native groups, the Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Forest Service and the Environmental Protection Agency who all supported the permits in the Court, and the U.S. Solicitor General, who argued the case before the Supreme Court,” Coeur President and CEO Dennis Wheeler said in reaction to the ruling.
The State of Alaska supported Coeur’s legal efforts to move the project ahead at every level of court review, including intervening in the lawsuit at the outset, litigating the case in the Ninth Circuit, filing a petition asking for review by the Supreme Court, and briefing the case in the Supreme Court on the merits.
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (R) said. “Today’s ruling is a green light for responsible resource development. Kensington will produce as many as 370 well-paying jobs. We truly appreciate Coeur’s tenacity in pursuing the project and its dedication to hiring Alaskans to work at the mine.”
Wheeler said his company now looks forward to bringing Kensington into production, “which we are now targeting for the second half of 2010.”
