The Alaska Supreme Court has upheld state regulators’ decision to grant permits for a large gold mine planned for Southwest Alaska, bringing the proposed Donlin project a step closer to construction.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The Alaska Supreme Court has upheld state regulators’ decision to grant permits for a large gold mine planned for Southwest Alaska, bringing the proposed Donlin project a step closer to construction, according to, the court’s five justices said the Alaska Department of Natural Resources did not need to consider the environmental impact of the entire proposed Donlin Mine when it approved water use permits and a right-of-way permit needed for a natural gas pipeline intended to power the mine.
Their ruling has implications for many major development projects on private land and likely applies to projects on federal land as well, such as the large oil projects on Alaska’s North Slope. “This decision is a major win for Alaska,” said Attorney General-designee Stephen Cox in a written statement. “The Court rightly recognized that the State’s permitting process met constitutional standards and that Article VIII does not extend to lands owned by Alaska Native Corporations or other private entities. This ruling not only affirms the integrity of DNR’s work but also protects the rights of Alaska Native Corporations and provides certainty for future development.” The natural gas pipeline will stretch across state land, but the mine itself will be dug on land whose subsurface rights are owned by Calista Corporation, a regional Alaska Native corporation.“Because these are private resources, rather than state resources, the Department was not required to consider the cumulative impacts of their development when deciding whether to allow the use of state waters and access over state lands to develop the mine,” he wrote. The ruling says that to approve the gas pipeline, regulators needed to consider only the impact of the pipeline, not of the mine it allows.by the Alaska Supreme Court known as REDOIL had required regulators to “take into account all aspects of a project” and consider the “cumulative impacts” when issuing permits for work on state land. Friday’s decision somewhat limits that precedent, particularly for Alaska’s North Slope oil and gas industry, where most new drilling is taking place on federal land, not state land. “This decision, I believe, makes clear that the REDOIL requirement to assess cumulative impacts only applies to projects that are on state lands,” said Jon Katchen, an attorney familiar with the new decision and author of a friend-of-the-court brief to the Supreme Court. Friday’s decision covered two lawsuits filed by the Orutsararmiut Native Council and other Alaska Native tribes opposed to the mine’s development. They appealed the case to the Alaska Supreme Court after an Anchorage Superior Court judge also ruled in favor of the defendants. The high court heard arguments “While this ruling is unfortunate, our work challenging the Donlin gold mine continues,” said Gage Hoffman, Orutsararmiut Traditional Native Council President, in an emailed statement. ONC and other plaintiffs are being represented by Earthjustice, an environmental law firm, and a spokeswoman for that organization said it has another case on appeal at the Alaska Supreme Court as well as federal litigation. “We will be pushing to ensure that the supplemental environmental study that the court ordered from our federal victory adequately analyses the risks posed by the mine,” Hoffman said. “Our people deserve to know about these dangers; our ways of life are dependent on healthy lands and waters, and it is our responsibility to ensure they are protected for future generations.”One lawsuit involved a permit challenged repeatedly since a preliminary decision in 2019, granting the use of state land needed to build a gas pipeline from Cook Inlet to the mine site. Referring to legislative history and the text of the state’s Right of Way Leasing Act, Borghesan concluded, “none can be reasonably read to require the Department to consider the downstream effects of industrial activities by users of gas transported by the pipeline.”Plaintiffs argued that the Alaska Constitution, as interpreted by REDOIL, required DNR to consider the impact of the whole project.“In our view, such a rule would extend article VIII far beyond its command to ascertain whether the development ofHe also added that imposing such a restriction would be particularly problematic in the case of Donlin, because it involves land “chosen by ANCSA corporations as compensation for the loss of Alaska Natives’ aboriginal title to their ancestral territories. … These lands and minerals are reserved for their benefit, not for the benefit of Alaskans generally.” Plaintiffs had argued that DNR failed to consider what will happen after the mine closes, when the mining pit will be filled by rainwater and seepage. “Pumping will be required in perpetuity to ensure the lake’s water levels do not overtop its banks,” Borghesan wrote, adding that water treatment will also be required forever. “This is because the water will have high levels of heavy metals due to contact with mining waste, and will have to be treated in perpetuity to protect downstream lands, waters, fish and wildlife, and people.” Despite that conclusion, he said the justices “are persuaded that the Department was not required to consider the environmental impacts of the pit lake” because that lake will be regulated by state and federal pollution permits and rules, not just the water-use permits. Friday’s decision emphasized that the justices are not intending to give an open hand to development. “We hold only that the Department was not required, when deciding whether to issue water appropriation and pipeline right-of-way permits for use in mining privately owned minerals on private lands, to condition those permits on an analysis of the cumulative impacts of the mining itself,” the decision states.Man charged in Fox Hollow killing waives court appearanceAST K9 main character in new children’s comic book
Donlin Mine Alaska Department Of Natural Resources Alaska’S North Slope North Slope Mining Natural Gas Alaska Mining Alaska REDOIL Orutsararmiut Native Council
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