Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy is calling on the Biden administration to streamline the permitting process for domestic mines in order to support the country's clean energy goals. The governor's push for mine permitting reform aligns with the concerns of U.S. automakers, global commodities investment firms, and high-level members of the Biden administration who see the lengthy federal mine permitting process as a major obstacle to America's clean energy transition. Governor Dunleavy argues that the White House's promotion of electric vehicles and renewable energy, which require large quantities of critical minerals, while blocking projects like the Pebble copper mine and Ambler Road in Alaska is contradictory [e42584bf].
The governor's administration has taken legal action against the federal government over broken contracts related to the Environmental Protection Agency's decision to restrict mining activities at the Pebble copper project. The lawsuit seeks over $700 billion in compensation for lost revenues. Additionally, the Biden administration has revoked previously issued permits for the construction of a road that would connect rich deposits of metals in Alaska's Ambler Mining District to markets demanding sustainable supplies. The delay in road permitting has set back the timeline for permitting and developing mines in the Ambler District [e42584bf].
Governor Dunleavy's call for mine permitting reform highlights the need to balance environmental concerns with the demand for critical minerals necessary for the clean energy transition. Streamlining the permitting process for domestic mines can help ensure a reliable supply of minerals and metals while supporting the country's clean energy goals. It remains to be seen how the Biden administration will respond to these calls for reform [e42584bf].
In a related development, a federal judge has settled a dispute that began in 2021, when the Dunleavy administration tried to expand salmon fishing opportunities beyond those offered by the federal government. U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason settled a three-year dispute that began in 2021, when the Alaska Department of Fish and Game issued orders that periodically opened the Kuskokwim River for fishing by all state residents. The Biden administration filed its lawsuit in 2022, arguing that the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980 requires rural residents’ harvests of fish and game to be prioritized during times of scarcity. The Dunleavy administration argued that those cases were undercut by another U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2019 when the justices sided with John Sturgeon, an Alaska hunter who was operating his hovercraft on a river within a national wildlife preserve, where the National Park Service had banned them. But Gleason, in her decision, rejected that argument, saying that the court, when it ruled in Sturgeon’s favor, “expressly stated” that it wasn’t disturbing the Katie John precedents [ca6b0478].