Decision bodes ill for other American lakes, invites Administrative or Congressional fix

Will mining company be allowed to bury lake in wastes?

Earthjustice press secretary Raviya Ismail was at today’s (Jan. 12) U.S. Supreme Court hearing on whether the Clean Water Act allows Coeur Alaska’s Kensington Mine to fill Lower Slate Lake in Alaska with mining waste – killing all aquatic life. Earthjustice attorney Tom Waldo argued to protect the lake. The high court decision, expected by…

Map showing the proximity of Lower Slate Lake to Juneau, Alaska

Argument that Kensington Mine, AK waste should not be classified as fill and violates the Clean Water Act.

Court decision will clarify whether mining companies may bury clean lakes, rivers and streams with mine tailings

Alaskan mining company seeks permit to destroy lake with mine waste

Clean Water Act preserved as Ninth Circuit protects lake from mine tailings

Ninth Circuit upholds Clean Water Act

Mining company proposed to destroy Alaskan lake and eviscerate the Clean Water Act

Federal court says Army Corps violated Act by letting mine kill Alaska lake

Federal court says Army Corps violated Act by letting mine kill Alaska lake

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the motion of Coeur Alaska, Inc. to vacate the injunction which prevents Coeur from continuing activities regarding construction of a disposal facility at Lower Slate Lake.

Is toxic water allowed by Clean Water Act?

Map showing the location of Berners Bay in Alaska

Court order of 8/24/2006 enjoining US Army Corps, US Forest Service and Coeur Alaska from further construction activities relating to the use of Lower Slate Lake as a disposal site for mine tailings

Allows other mining activities to proceed

In issuing a permit for a gold mine, the Army Corps of Engineers considered the mine’s chemically processed, toxic mine waste to be “fill material” under the Clean Water Act, bypassing strict EPA limits for this type of pollution. As a result, millions of tons of mine waste will be dumped into a pristine sub-alpine…