EARTHWORKS On Supreme Court CWA Ruling
Washington, D.C.,
6/26
- United States and global waterways are at greater risk of industrial
contamination following the US Supreme Court's ruling this week allowing a
mining company to dump millions of gallons of toxic waste into an Alaskan lake.
The Court's decision was based on a 2002 Bush-era policy that allows solid waste
and contaminated materials to be dumped directly into lakes, streams and other
water bodies. As Justice Ginsburg wrote in her dissent, the ruling contravenes
the "core command" of the Clean Water Act. EARTHWORKS is deeply disappointed by
the ruling and its negative implications for clean water.
The outdated 1872
Mining Law has given mining companies virtually free access to public lands, and
metals mining remains the single largest industrial polluter in the US. Now, the
Supreme Court has given the mining industry yet another free pass, by ruling
that even the Clean Water Act does not apply at Alaskas Kensington mine. The
mining company has acknowledged that its daily discharge of 210,000 gallons of
toxic mine waste will decimate all fish and aquatic life in the
lake.
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This ruling places the
United States outside of the growing international consensus that disposal of
mine tailings into natural water bodies is unacceptable. The Norwegian Pension
Fund has banned three metals mining companies from its investment portfolio
specifically because of their destructive disposal of mine waste into water
bodies. The largest mining company in the world, BHP Billiton, has a written
policy against disposing tailings into rivers or the ocean at new mines. Mines
that dispose of mine wastes into natural water bodies, such as Ok Tedi in Papua
New Guinea, or Grasberg in Indonesia, provide cautionary evidence of the harmful
results of this practice.
The United States must
correct this serious misstep and protect its natural resources from long-term
mining pollution. EARTHWORKS calls on the Obama administration and Congress to
act promptly to ensure our nation's precious water resources are not destroyed
by mine waste dumping. We urge the Army Corp of Engineers and the Environmental
Protection Agency to issue a new rule to rectify this situation, or simply
revise an informal EPA memo on the issue. HR 1310, the Clean Water Protection
Act, introduced this Congress by Representatives Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Dave
Reichert (R-WA), will also protect lakes and streams from irresponsible waste
dumping."
June 30, 2009
EARTHWORKS On Supreme Court CWA Ruling
Washington, D.C.,
6/26
- United States and global waterways are at greater risk of industrial
contamination following the US Supreme Court's ruling this week allowing a
mining company to dump millions of gallons of toxic waste into an Alaskan lake.
The Court's decision was based on a 2002 Bush-era policy that allows solid waste
and contaminated materials to be dumped directly into lakes, streams and other
water bodies. As Justice Ginsburg wrote in her dissent, the ruling contravenes
the "core command" of the Clean Water Act. EARTHWORKS is deeply disappointed by
the ruling and its negative implications for clean water.
The outdated 1872
Mining Law has given mining companies virtually free access to public lands, and
metals mining remains the single largest industrial polluter in the US. Now, the
Supreme Court has given the mining industry yet another free pass, by ruling
that even the Clean Water Act does not apply at Alaskas Kensington mine. The
mining company has acknowledged that its daily discharge of 210,000 gallons of
toxic mine waste will decimate all fish and aquatic life in the
lake.
This ruling places the
United States outside of the growing international consensus that disposal of
mine tailings into natural water bodies is unacceptable. The Norwegian Pension
Fund has banned three metals mining companies from its investment portfolio
specifically because of their destructive disposal of mine waste into water
bodies. The largest mining company in the world, BHP Billiton, has a written
policy against disposing tailings into rivers or the ocean at new mines. Mines
that dispose of mine wastes into natural water bodies, such as Ok Tedi in Papua
New Guinea, or Grasberg in Indonesia, provide cautionary evidence of the harmful
results of this practice.
The United States must
correct this serious misstep and protect its natural resources from long-term
mining pollution. EARTHWORKS calls on the Obama administration and Congress to
act promptly to ensure our nation's precious water resources are not destroyed
by mine waste dumping. We urge the Army Corp of Engineers and the Environmental
Protection Agency to issue a new rule to rectify this situation, or simply
revise an informal EPA memo on the issue. HR 1310, the Clean Water Protection
Act, introduced this Congress by Representatives Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Dave
Reichert (R-WA), will also protect lakes and streams from irresponsible waste
dumping."