Six tribes from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta have won a partial victory in federal court in their suit against the environmental analysis underpinning the permitting of the proposed Donlin Gold mine.
The coalition of tribes from the region filed suit in Alaska District Court last year over the proposed gold mine, which would be located around 10 miles from the village of Crooked Creek on the Kuskokwim River.
In a decision issued Sept. 30, U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason found that the federal environmental impact statement put together by the Army Corps of Engineers for the proposed Donlin Gold project violates two federal laws: the National Environmental Policy Act and Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.
Gleason wrote in her decision that the violations occurred because the Army Corps failed to consider a large enough tailings dam spill in its analysis of potential impacts from the proposed gold mine. Similarly, the court found that the Bureau of Land Management also failed to consider a large enough tailings dam spill in its consideration of the potential impact the mine could have on the use of public lands.
But Gleason also denied two other claims put forward by the tribes, which are represented by environmental law firm Earthjustice.
The court denied the claim that the federal government did not properly consider the potential health impacts of the mine as outlined in a draft Health Impact Analysis compiled by the state of Alaska.
And Gleason also sided with intervenor-defendants Donlin Gold, Calista Corporation, and the state of Alaska, finding that the mine’s proposed barging plan does not violate the federal Clean Water Act. That’s despite its potential impact on rainbow smelt, an important subsistence species on the Kuskokwim River.
Gleason’s decision does not propose a remedy for the federal government’s violation of the law in its environmental analysis of Donlin Gold. The tribes and federal, state, and private defendants will have 24 days to propose a remedy, with an additional two weeks to respond.
