A lawsuit brought by Bethel’s tribal government challenging a state water quality certification for the Donlin Gold mine project is set to have oral arguments in Anchorage Superior Court on Friday, Aug. 30.
The Orutsararmiut Native Council’s (ONC)'s suit is about how the proposed gold mine project would use water, and what impact that water use could have on salmon.
It challenges what’s called a 401 certificate, issued by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. The 401 certificate is basically the state’s stamp of approval that it believes a project will meet state water quality standards. It’s an integral part of obtaining federal permits through the Army Corps of Engineers.
The state’s certificate was originally issued in 2018. ONC has challenged the decision multiple times. In 2021, an administrative law judge recommended that the certificate be rescinded. In 2022, the Alaska Division of Water upheld the certificate decision again. The tribe then brought the issue to court.
ONC’s suit alleges that the proposed mine, around 10 miles from the upper Kuskokwim River village of Crooked Creek and around 145 miles from Bethel, would not meet the state standard for protecting fish habitat or keeping water at a livable temperature for salmon.
The proposed Donlin Gold project has been a point of controversy for many in the Yukon-Kuskokwim (Y-K) Delta. It’s supported by the Village of Crooked Creek; The Kuskokwim Corporation, which holds the surface rights to the proposed site; the regional Alaska Native corporation Calista Corporation, which owns the subsurface land rights; and received support earlier this year from Alaska’s bipartisan congressional delegation. The delegation said that the project has been thoroughly vetted and would prove a major economic boon to the region and, through Native corporation profit-sharing, the entire state.
But over the last decade, more and more tribes, villages, and organizations have come out in opposition to the mine, citing its potential environmental impacts. In 2019, the Association of Village Council Presidents, representing 56 Y-K Delta tribes, passed a resolution opposing the mine, reversing the supportive stance they’d held since 2006.
Oral arguments for the case challenging the state’s water quality certificate are scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 30 in Anchorage Superior Court. Listen in by calling 1-888-788-0099, Conference ID: 447 790 8081 (Judge Easter’s Courtroom).
The suit is one of four currently making their way through state and federal court systems challenging various aspects of Donlin Gold’s environmental analysis and permitting. A federal challenge to the project’s environmental analysis had oral arguments in Anchorage in late June. The other two cases are scheduled for oral argument later this fall.
