That Didn’t Take Long: Alaska ENGOs Weaponizing 404c Veto Threat

February 10, 2023

Give an extremist an inch, and they immediately try to figure out how to take a mile.

When the EPA declared a (preemptive) veto under section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act, denying the Pebble Mine the opportunity to move forward with its permitting process, we wondered aloud how quickly the process would be weaponized.

It took less than 48 hours.

EPA’s announcement on Pebble stated that the “extraordinary” action had only been issued three times in 30 years.  That won’t matter to extremist organizations looking to thwart American development opportunities.

Case in point? The Southeast Alaska Conservation Council (SEACC) published an “action alert” on its website urging its anti-jobs and anti-Alaska minions to fill out a form letter demanding EPA consider the same type of action for the Palmer mine project outside of Haines, Alaska.

SEACC notes that once the supporter fills out the form, “[t]his letter will go to EPA Administrator Michael Regan. The EPA Region 10 Administrator, Office of Water, and Permitting Branch will be cc’d, as well as US Representative Mary Peltola.”

Palmer, like Pebble and so many other projects across our state, would be done responsibly, creating jobs and providing needed revenues to state and local government. Too bad each of those projects will now need to include overcoming “extraordinary” threats in their development plans.