Mining News: News Nuggets: Pebble CEO: New watchdog report on EPA is ‘embarrassing failure’

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Inspector General, Jan. 13 said it could not find any evidence that the EPA was unfair while conducting the Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment, a study of the potential risks large scale mining might pose the abundant fish resources in the Bristol Bay region of Southwest Alaska. “Based on available information, we found no evidence of bias in how the EPA conducted its assessment of the Bristol Bay watershed, or that the EPA predetermined the assessment outcome,” the watchdog penned in a summary of the report. This finding is in sharp contrast to conclusions from previous investigations by former U.S. Secretary of Defense William Cohen and others. “After a very thorough review, I do not believe EPA used the fairest and most appropriate process,” wrote Cohen, who was hired by the Pebble Partnership. The contrasting conclusions will likely be considered in a lawsuit in which the Pebble Partnership alleges EPA worked secretly with anti-Pebble groups with the goal of banning or restricting development of Pebble prior to the permitting process. Judge H. Russel Holland, who is presiding over the case, found Pebble’s allegations credible enough to issue a preliminary injunction ordering the regulator to halt efforts to use Section 404 (c) of the federal Clean Water Act to pre-emptively block or restrict Pebble permits. “The EPA Inspector General’s report is an embarrassing failure on its part to understand what several congressional committees, an independent federal judge in Alaska, and an independent review by a former Senator and cabinet secretary have already found – that EPA acted improperly with regard to Pebble and was biased in its actions,” said Pebble Partnership CEO Tom Collier. All parties agree that the activities of Phil North, a former Alaska-based EPA biologist, are suspect. “We did find that an EPA Region 10 employee used personal non-governmental email to provide comments on a draft Clean Water Act Section 404(c) petition from tribes before the tribes submitted it to the EPA,” the EPA Inspector General wrote.

- Shane Lasley

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article was corrected on Jan. 18 to remove erroneous text from the quote attributed to the report of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Inspector General.