Supreme Court of the United States
Decided June 22, 2009
|
Chief Justice
John G. Roberts |
|
|
Associate Justices
John P. Stevens · Antonin Scalia Anthony Kennedy · David Souter Clarence Thomas · Ruth Bader Ginsburg Stephen Breyer · Samuel Alito |
|
| Coeur Alaska, Inc. v. Southeast Alaska Conservation Council | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Supreme Court of the United States |
||||||
| Argued January 12, 2009 Decided June 22, 2009 |
||||||
| Full case name | Coeur Alaska, Inc., Petitioner v. Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, et al. | |||||
| Docket nos. | 07-984 | |||||
| Prior history | summary judgment for appellant CV-05-00012-J-JK (D. Alaska, 2005); vacated 486 F.3d 638 (9th Cir., 2006); reversed and remanded US | |||||
| Holding | ||||||
| The Army Corps of Engineers was the appropriate agency to permit the disposal of mine waste material into Lower Slate Lake. | ||||||
| Court membership | ||||||
|
||||||
| Case opinions | ||||||
| Majority | Kennedy, joined by Roberts, Thomas, Breyer, Alito, Scalia (in part) | |||||
| Concurrence | Scalia, joined by Breyer (in part) | |||||
| Dissent | Ginsburg, joined by Stevens, Souter | |||||
Coeur Alaska, Inc. v. Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, 07-984 (2009), is a United States Supreme Court case that was decided in favor of Coeur Alaska's permitted right to dump mine waste in a lake. The case addressed tailings from the Kensington mine, an underground mine located 45 mi (72 km) north of Juneau, Alaska.[1] The gold mine had not operated since 1928, and Coeur Alaska obtained a permit in 2005 from the Army Corps of Engineers to dispose of up to 4.5 million tons of tailings in Lower Slate Lake, 3 mi (4.8 km) away within the Tongass National Forest.[2] The suit was brought by environmental groups citing the Clean Water Act, who wanted the dumping blocked and required a determination of which rules applied and which agencies had jurisdiction.
Contents |
The discharge of material into waters of the United States is regulated under the Clean Water Act by either the Army Corps or the Environmental Protection Agency, depending on what the material is. Discharge of "fill material" falls under the jurisdiction of the Army Corps (discharge of other pollutants falls under the jurisdiction of the EPA).[3] In 2005 Coeur was granted their permit to dispose of their tailings into Lower Slate Lake by the Army Corps under section 404 of the Clean Water Act on the basis of a definition of "fill material" which had been revised in 2002 under the administration of George W. Bush. This new definition allowed some contaminants to be included in mine waste, while still allowing the mine waste to be classified as fill.[2] The permit included 4.5 million tons a combination of waste rock and tailings of ten years, and would result in the floor elevation of Lower Slate Lake to rise by 50 ft (15 m).[1]
Following the Army Corps of Engineers permitting of the tailings disposal, the Southeast Alaska Conservation Club, the Sierra Club and Lynn Canal Conservation Inc. filed suit. The suit claimed that the permit was issued in violation of sections 301(a), 301(e) and 306(e) of the Clean Water Act. The United States District Court for the District of Alaska found that the Army Corps was correct in its application of section 404 of the act, because the permit was for "fill material", and therefore not covered under or in violation of sections 301(e) and 306(e).
In May 2007 the District Court's 2006 decision was overturned by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The Circuit Court found in favor of the non-governmental organizations ruling that the discharge is not permitted under the EPA's New Source Performance Standard.[3]
The Supreme Court found in favor of Coeur Alaska by a vote of 6-3, agreeing that the Army Corps of Engineers is indeed the appropriate body for the permitting of mine waste discharge into Lower Slate Lake. In her dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg stated that currently discharging pollutants into a lake is permitted provided there is enough material to raise the lake's floor elevation, thereby turning it into a waste disposal site. Ginsburg voiced concern about the potential for pollution regulation to not apply to several industries (mining included) on the basis of this loophole.[3]
The decision was welcomed by the National Mining Association stating that it would "provide employment and greater economic certainty for all those involved in the project".[3] Alaska Governor Sarah Palin also welcomed the ruling calling it a "green light for responsible resource development". The environmental groups that originally filed suit against Coeur Alaska were unhappy with the decision. The groups state that the proposed material includes aluminum, lead and mercury (among other metals), and that discharging into Lower Slate Lake will have a detrimental effect on the lake and surrounding waters.[4] Following the court's decision share prices of Coeur d'Alene Mines rose over 5%.[1]