Earthjustice, three Alaska Native tribes file suit to block Donlin
An environmental advocacy group and three Alaska Native tribes have sued to block the Donlin Gold Proj- ect. Their suit alleges that federal agencies failed to properly analyze health and environmental concerns for the project in southwest Alaska. Tribes from the communities of Kwethluk, Tuluksak and Bethel filed a federal lawsuit in early April chal- lenging the adequacy of a 2018 envi- ronmental review by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and issuances of a key permit and lease by federal agencies for the Donlin Gold project.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the tribes by environmental non- profit Earthjustice, claims the agen - cies failed to fully analyze potential harms and health impacts from a catastrophic spill and did not pro- vide adequate protection for rainbow smelt, a subsistence food, from in- creased barge traffic related to the project. The project is about 10 miles (16 kilometers) north of the Kuskokwim River community of Crooked Creek. Donlin Gold LLC, owned by subsid- iaries of Canada-based NovaGold Resources and Barrick Gold Corp.,
manages the project. The project has been through many steps of the approval process and Dolin Gold said in a statement that the federal permitting process was rigorous. “Donlin Gold’s stakeholders fully believe that this lawsuit is meritless and are confident the actual record will once again fully support the agencies’ decisions,” the statement said. “In the meantime, the Donlin Gold team and the owners continue to advance remaining state permit- ting, as well as drilling and techni- cal work, subject to Donlin Gold LLC Board approval.” The lawsuit names as defendants the corps, U.S. Interior Department, U.S. Bureau of Land Management and agency officials. An Interior De - partment spokesperson declined to comment. A spokesperson with the corps in Alaska referred an email request for comment to the U.S. De- partment of Justice. The Justice De- partment is aware of the complaint but declined further comment, a spokesperson said in an email. The deposit contains 39 million ounces (1.1 billion grams) of gold — worth close to $80 billion at today’s prices. A 315-mile (507-kilometer) natural gas pipeline from the west side of Cook Inlet would supply a power plant at the mine. The proj- ect life is anticipated around three decades. The project is on land owned by The Kuskokwim Corp., the area Alaska Native village corporation, and the mineral rights to the depos- it are controlled by Calista Corp., the regional Alaska Native corporation. The mine is expected to employ 3,000 people during construction and about 1,400 people during op- erations. The Associated Press and others con- tributed to this story
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The Alaska Miner
Spring 2023
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