Alaska
Alaska Gold Mine Approval Lacked Waste Spill Study, Judge Says
The US Army Corps of Engineers failed to consider how a proposed mine’s waste dam in Alaska could spill large amounts of harmful chemicals such as arsenic and antimony into surrounding environments, a federal court ruled.
The US District Court for the District of Alaska said the agency should have studied a spill of more than 0.5% of the tailings storage facility connected to Donlin Gold LLC’s mine after “erroneously” identifying catastrophic spill as a worst case scenario that didn’t warrant examination, according to an opinion filed Monday.
Judge Sharon L. Gleason ruled the Corps’ final environmental impact statement violated …