Judge backs Pebble in dispute with EPA

A federal judge has approved a request for a subpoena compelling a former Environmental Protection Agency official to explain his actions in the agency’s controversial decision to prevent a proposed gold mine from being built in southwestern Alaska.

U.S. District Judge H. Russel Holland signed off on the motion on Thursday in Anchorage, setting the stage for a potentially dramatic confrontation between former EPA biologist Phillip North and the would-be developers of the Pebble Mine.

LINK (via: The Washington Post)

Federal judge rules new EPA water rule should be halted

EPA vows to proceed.

U.S. District Judge Ralph Erickson in Fargo issued a temporary injunction requested by North Dakota and 12 other states halting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers from regulating some small streams, tributaries and wetlands under the Clean Water Act.

Erickson, was appointed by President George W. Bush in 2003.

LINK (via:U.S. New & World Report)

Catastrophe on the Animas

Unbelievable.

Acidic wastewater from an abandoned mine above Silverton coursed its way through La Plata County on Thursday, turning the Animas River orange-brown, forcing the city of Durango to stop pumping raw water from the river and persuading the sheriff to close the river to public use.

LINK (via: The Durango Herald)

Appeals court tosses Pebble Mine suit against EPA; arguments begin in another

A federal appeals court dismissed one of several ongoing court cases over the fate of Pebble Mine, handing a win to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

LINK (via:Alaska Dispatch News)

Meanwhile, a federal judge heard arguments in a case alleging that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency worked with critics of the proposed Pebble mine with a predetermined goal to block the project.

Obama Announces New Rule Limiting Water Pollution

Much to the chagrin of Congressional Republicans, the American Farm Bureau, property developers, fertilizer and pesticide makers, oil and gas producers and the national association of golf course owners, the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers just released a Clean Water Rule to protect critical streams and wetlands that are currently vulnerable to pollution and destruction.

LINK (via: The NY Times)

 

LINK

EPA Announces New Initiative To Conserve Whatever’s Left

WASHINGTON—In an effort to forestall the nation’s decline in biodiversity and ecological resources, representatives from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced an expansive new initiative Wednesday aimed at the conservation of whatever’s left.

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