Two predominantly Native American-owned companies, the Iliamna Natives Limited and the Alaska Peninsula Corporation, are suing Biden's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for annihilating a gold and copper mining project in Alaska. In a lawsuit filed Monday, the defendants alleged that the EPA “overstepped its authority with its January 2023 final decision to essentially kill the Pebble Mine project on the grounds that the development would cause unacceptable damage to the region’s salmon population,” reported the Daily Caller.
The EPA used its “veto authority” over necessary permits for the project to kill it — something the defendants claim is unconstitutional.
“The Clean Water Act provides a comprehensive permitting regime for the United States Army Corps of Engineers to authorize projects involving the discharge of dredged and fill material into navigable waters,” explains the lawsuit.
“But after setting out standards to govern such permitting, Congress authorized the Environmental Protection Agency to take an end-run around the permitting review process. In so doing, Congress unconstitutionally delegated to EPA the authority to override the CWA’s permitting process virtually whenever the EPA Administrator deems fit,” the lawsuit continues.
The Biden Administration frequently boasts that it has “taken steps to strengthen its understanding of Tribal needs and priorities” and supports “Tribal sovereignty.” Yet the administration continually economically harms native communities and violates their sovereignty with left-wing environmental policies.
By destroying the mining project, the EPA claims it is protecting the salmon populations, which have “supported Alaska Native cultures for thousands of years.” Perhaps the Biden Administration should leave the preservation of Native Alaskan culture to the Native Alaskans.
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