Dont ComplyCourthouse News reports that U.S. District Judge Sharon L. Gleason ruled the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers unlawfully approved IPOP LLC's plan to suction dredge for gold in Safety Sound and the Bonanza Channel near Nome. The Corps' Alaska District denied the permit in 2022, citing significant threats to water quality. After IPOP appealed, Corps official Kirk Gibbs vacated the denial in 2023, and the Pacific Ocean Division, which he led, approved the plan in 2024 without an Environmental Impact Statement. Gleason wrote the Division did not explain why it disagreed with the District's conclusions about impacts to birds and wildlife. Five Alaska Native tribal groups sued. The judge ordered further briefing on the remedy rather than vacating the approval. IPOP did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Why it matters
The ruling found that a federal agency approved a large project affecting an estuary used for Alaska Native subsistence without adequately explaining its reversal of an earlier denial. The remedy has not yet been decided.
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