The EPA will likely need to revise its rationale for protecting Alaska’s Bristol Bay from the proposed Pebble Mine following the Supreme Court’s June ruling in a pivotal Clean Water Act case, but the mine is still unlikely to proceed, legal experts say.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s pollution restrictions for Bristol Bay announced last year and finalized in January will mostly withstand the court’s ruling in Sackett v. EPA, focusing on protections for waters of the US, or WOTUS, said Lee Forsgren, senior counsel at HBW Resources who served as EPA deputy assistant administrator for water during the Trump ...