The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) gave special treatment to groups that wanted to block a massive copper and gold mine in Alaska, according to a new report.
The Pebble Mine has taken on outsized importance in recent years. The EPA moved toward blocking it last year, agreeing with Democrats, environmentalists and Alaska Native groups that it would be too harmful.
But Republicans and the mine’s supporters charge that the EPA exceeded its authority by blocking the project before it even applied for the necessary permits. Furthermore, the mine’s developer says EPA’s analysis overestimated the environmental harms.
Cohen said the EPA’s decision to preemptively block Pebble’s permit is highly unusual. Instead, the EPA usually makes such determinations through the National Environmental Policy Act, allowing a wider range of input from all stakeholders.
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