EPA Can’t Escape Review in Pebble Mine Dispute, Group Says (1)

The EPA’s decision to withdraw proposed water pollution limits on a planned mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay region is a final agency action subject to judicial review under the Administrative Procedure Act, a conservation group told the Ninth Circuit.

Trout Unlimited claimed in its opening brief filed Wednesday that the Environmental Protection Agency can’t use “agency discretion” to escape review of its decision against limits for the Pebble Mine. The agency withdrew its proposal in 2019, saying the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ draft environmental impact statement for the project included information that wasn’t considered earlier.

Though the Clean Water ...