8-13-14 EPA's Alaska Hearings Began Yesterday

8-13-14 EPA’s Alaska Hearings Began Yesterday

Alaska Miners Association Summary of Yesterday's Meeting

ADN by Lisa Demer. The fight over the proposed Pebble mine came to the Egan Center on Tuesday at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s public hearing before a crowd of hundreds, some holding salmon cutouts or wearing anti-Pebble stickers and others with red stop signs saying “Hands off Alaska.” *** Deantha Crockett, executive director of the Alaska Miners Association (NGP Photo), told EPA that she fields calls regularly from potential financiers wondering whether it’s safe to invest in mining here.

“And I don’t know what to say to them,” she said.

Her organization has repeatedly urged EPA to allow Pebble to move through permitting.

“I am discouraged and can only expect that our pleas for science and law will again be ignored.”

(See one of our earlier comments on EPA overreach and the Rule of Law. If EPA gets away with violating Constitutional due process guarantees by preemptively blocking this project, it can preemptively block any federal, state, local government or private project in the nation or offshore within national waters. Below is th Alaska Miners Association summary of yesterday's hearing. -dh)

AMA Members:

Yesterday, EPA held its first of a series of public meetings on the Proposed Determination Pursuant to Section 404c of the Clean Water Act for the Pebble Deposit Area, in Anchorage.

The hearing lasted around five hours, with approximately 125 people signed up to testify. Testimony began with Tom Collier, CEO of Pebble Partnership, who urged the EPA to wait for their mine plans to be submitted; and at that time, allow a lengthy public comment process and project evaluation. State of Alaska Attorney General Mike Geraghty powerfully stated that we should not be afraid of the existing permitting process and we should not be afraid of evaluating projects through science.

From elected officials and the public at large, AMA would specifically like to thank the following members for their testimony:

Senator Cathy Giessel, Representative Pete Higgins, Alicia Amberg, Martha Anelon, Trefon Angasan, Chris Birch, Jason Brune, Bill Ellis, Howard Grey, Marleanna Hall, Mike Heatwole, Josie Hickel, Bill Jeffress, Roger Jenkins, Josh Kindred on behalf of the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, Sean Magee, Rob Retherford, Rick Rogers, Randy Ruedrich, John Shively, Lorali Simon, and Dennis Stacey. In addition, we appreciate those who stuck around for several hours but didn't get the chance to testify, including Kati Capozzi, Rebecca Logan, Rachael Petro and Andy Rogers.

(Note: If I missed you on this list, I am responsible for the omission, and I'm truly sorry! Please let me know if I missed you.)

I provided testimony on behalf of AMA, and noted that we have previously submitted, five different times, our concerns with the flawed assessment and the abandonment of the permitting process, and that our concerns have never been heard or addressed. I also noted that AMA receives calls frequently about the investment climate in Alaska, and it has changed drastically and negatively as a result of this process.

We posted many quotes from these testimonies on our Facebook and Twitter pages. You don't have to be on Facebook to view them; just click here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alaska-Miners-Association/266705696777643?ref=hl

News articles:

http://www.adn.com/article/20140812/hundreds-make-their-case-pebble-mine-epa-anchorage-hearing

http://www.alaskapublic.org/2014/08/12/epa-gets-earful-on-pebble/

You can still comment!

Finally, I know that a large majority of you are outside of Anchorage or could not be a part of yesterday's hearing. You can still comment! With our Federal Oversight Committee, we will be developing lengthy and technical comments on behalf of AMA and will submit them by the September 19 deadline. We encourage you to do the same! See how here: http://www2.epa.gov/bristolbay/public-involvement-bristol-bay-404c-process#comments

Thank you very much for your involvement in this critical issue!

Deantha Crockett
Executive Director
Alaska Miners Association
(907) 270-9234 direct
(907) 563-9229 main
(907) 317-6323 mobile
deantha@alaskaminers.org
121 W. Fireweed Lane, Suite 120
Anchorage, AK 99503

This email has been sent from a computer made of the mined minerals we depend on for everyday life. As we communicate together, please be thankful mining makes it possible.