Title: Digging up trouble: Mining through the Clean Water Act’s muddy waters

Author: Tristan Knutson-Lombardo

Abstract: In 2005, three Southeast Alaska environmental organizations filed a lawsuit against the Army Corps of Engineers. The suit was over a permit granted by the Corps for Kensington Mine to dispose of tailings into a freshwater lake, 45 miles north of Alaska’s capital city, Juneau. The case was appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the permits were revoked. This dispute highlights how science, policy and law intersect, and how the intersection of these can result in public controversy where public forums and scientific transparency become critical.

Key References:

Arabas, K., Bowersox, J., (2004). Forest futures: science, politics, and policy for the next century. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

Environmental Protection Agency. (2004). Kensington Gold Project final supplemental environmental impact statement. Lakewood, CO: Tetra Tech, Inc.

Houck, O.A. (2002). The Clean Water Act tmdl program: law, policy, and implementation. Washington, D.C.: Environmental Law Institute.

Hunter, S., Waterman, R.W. (1996). Enforcing the law: the case of the Clean Water Acts. Armonk, N.Y: me Sharpe.

National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit. (2007). Permit for the Kensington Gold Project near Juneau, Alaska. Juneau, AK: Kensington Gold Mine.

Southeast Alaska Conservation Council v. United States Army Corps of Engineers, No. 06-35679 5959 (Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Order 2007).

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Date: May 2008
Student: *@willamette.edu
ENVR 327: Water Resources
Instructor: Dr. Karen Arabas
http://www.willamette.edu/~karabas/courses/envr327w