Northern Dynasty announced John Shively, CEO of its 100%-owned U.S.-based subsidiary Pebble Limited Partnership released the following statement, pushing back against the unprecedented the Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, decision to veto mining at the Pebble Project in Southwest Alaska. The statement, read: "We still firmly believe that the proposed determination should have been withdrawn as it is based on indefensible legal and non-scientific assumptions. The process and the decision have been political from the start, as evidenced by White House Climate Change Advisor Gina McCarthy’s stating in November of 2021 that the administration would shut down the project once and for all while praising the action with a ‘hallelujah.’ Those who think we can build a green energy economy in this country and stop mining at the same time are living in a fantasy world. I suspect the Chinese are laughing at the U.S. for making it so easy for China to become the ‘OPEC’ of producing minerals critical for the world’s economy. We have witnessed the situation unfolding in Europe which is the direct result of their being dependent on an unfriendly country for essential resources, and yet, for no good reason, the U.S.is heading down a similar path for these critical minerals. The EPA has made wildly speculative claims about possible adverse impacts from Pebble’s development that are not supported by any defensible data and are in direct contradiction to the facts validated in the USACE’s Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the Pebble Project. The FEIS clearly states that Pebble can be developed without harm to the Bristol Bay fishery. EPA’s speculation about impacts is not the same as demonstrating impacts will occur and is not a valid reason for issuing a veto."
Published first on TheFly
