So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

NRDC just ran this full-page ad in the London Financial Times.

Rio Tinto Pulls Out

Strong financials? 

Back in December global mining giant Rio Tinto said it was reviewing its investment in the Pebble Mine project. 

Yesterday they announced they are divesting themselves of their 19 percent stake in the project and donating it to the Alaska Community Foundation and the Bristol Bay Native Corporation Education Foundation.

LINK (via:The Washington Post)

And now a message from Northern Dynasty CEO Ron Thiessen on how to polish a turd.

It's why they named it the Environmental PROTECTION Agency

Today, U.S. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), top Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee, along with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.) introduced a bill that would strip the Environmental Protection Agency of its power to block mining permits under the Clean Water Act.

The Regulatory Fairness Act of 2014 would give American businesses a fair shot at going through the process of building or mining without having to worry about politics getting in the way,” Vitter said in a statement.

In other words it would prevent the EPA from blocking the Pebble Mine.

LINK (via: The Hill)

"EPA's preemptive use of Clean Water Act section 404(c) are unprecedented"

It ain't over until the fat lady sings.

Serial douche bag Representative Darrel Issa is calling for an investigation into the EPA and the Pebble Mine

"EPA's actions regarding the preemptive use of Clean Water Act section 404(c) are unprecedented and appear to rest upon an evaluation written with a predetermined conclusion of invoking a preemptive 404(c) veto of the Pebble Project," said Issa, along with Energy Policy, Health Care and Entitlements Subcommittee Chairman James Lankford, R-Okla., and Economic Growth, Job Creation and Regulatory Affairs Subcommittee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, in a letter.

LINK (via:The Washington Examiner)

Rise up against federal over-reach

That's the headline from Alaska Senate Majority leader Sen. John Coghill's editorial bemoaning the EPA's decision to temporarily block permitting of the Pebble Mine.

He goes on to say.....

It is now election season, a time when we have the opportunity to mobilize Alaskans who will not cede state power to an over-dominating federal government or a large multinational environmental industry.

Nothing in there about ceding the world's greatest sockeye run to a large multinational mining industry.

LINK (via: Newsminer)

Whistling past the graveyard

Northern Dynasty has issued a response to the EPA's Pebble Mine announcement.

More bad news for NAK.

Northern Dynasty shares fell 32% on yesterday's news that the EPA is taking initial steps toward restricting or even prohibiting development of the proposed mine.

As expected the pro Pebble forces are crying foul over the EPA's decision.

There is even talk of legal action from the mine's supporters, as the industry has contested whether EPA can reject the necessary permit.

Mine supporters say that the EPA action is illegal because it is working with a "hypothetical" mine scenario.

LINK (via:The Washington Examiner)