Corps sticks with its schedule on Pebble EIS

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is sticking with its January target to complete a Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed Pebble copper/gold/molybdenum mine near Iliamna but will keep the DEIS open for public comment for 90 days rather than the usual 45 days. In a briefing July 26, Shane McCoy, the Army Corps’ Alaska district Pebble program manager, said that a Record of Decision, clearing the way for federal permits to be issued for Pebble, could come in early 2020 under the current schedule. The Corps will publish a “scoping report,” a compilation of comments gathered during the DEIS scoping sessions that ended June 29, by the end of August. About 175,000 comments were sent in during the scoping sessions. “Many of these were form letters with many of them coming in at the close of the comment period. So far there are no real surprises among concerns raised,” McCoy said. Meanwhile, the Corps was unable to comply with Gov. Bill Walker’s request to suspend the EIS for the mine because Pebble Partnership, the company making the proposal, had submitted no feasibility study or evidence that the project is viable.

A demonstration of economic feasibility is not a requirement of the National Environmental Policy Act, which focuses entirely on environmental effects of a proposed action, McCoy said. Also, once an EIS process is launched it cannot be suspended unless that is asked for by the proponent, in this case Pebble Partnership, or if the company is unable to supply additional information requested by the Corps. So far Pebble Partnership has supplied all information asked for by the agency, McCoy said.

Where economics enters is when the Corps conducts a separate analysis on a Section 404 permit, the key federal permit needed. In that analysis the Corps examines alternatives of the least environmentally damaging alternative that is practical. This is when costs are weighed. The analysis is based on industry standards for costs, gathered independently, and not information from the applicant.   The Corps has not replied in writing to the governor’s letter because the agency does not respond to letters filed during the scoping process, he said. “The governor is treated no differently than anyone else,” he said. However, Col. Michael Brooks, the Army Corps’ Alaska District Engineer, did telephone the governor to discuss the issue, McCoy said.