The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
EPA decides to revert to 1998 standards on wastewater permits until DEC completes new rules; Teck worries move will spawn lawsuits
Red Dog Mine operator Teck Resources is seeking answers after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency made an unexpected decision regarding the appealed conditions of the wastewater permits needed to begin mining the Aqqaluk deposit.
Instead of suspending the five permit conditions under dispute - which are the discharge limits for zinc, lead, selenium, cyanide and total dissolved solids - the EPA has decided to revert to the conditions of the previous permit issued to Teck in 1998.
"This week we've decided to withdraw those five permit limits from the appeal. Instead of defending those five permit limits we have decided to withdraw them and work with the state on improving the anti-degradation analysis and then reinstate the permit limits after that. We think that is the quickest course to get those permit limits in effect," EPA Region 10 Mining Coordinator Patty McGrath told Mining News March 19.
For Teck the problem with the previous permit limits is the standards for total dissolved solids are more stringent than can be met at Red Dog.
"With those conditions removed from the permit we have to go back to 1998 limits for those five conditions. One of the most concerning ones is total dissolved solids, and we know we can not comply with that limit; we were never able to," said James Kulas, Red Dog's manager of environmental and public affairs.
Ball in DEC court
The EPA had determined that the higher limits for the metals and total dissolved solids were safe for aquatic life and were consistent with the U.S. Clean Water Act.
The two environmental law firms that appealed the permit - Trustees for Alaska and Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment - disagreed with this assessment. The conservation groups argued that the increases in limits violated the anti-backsliding provision of the federal law. They also contended that the water discharges under these standards would breach anti-degradation laws under the act.
Under the Clean Water Act it is up to individual states to develop rules and implementation procedures to prevent water quality from being unnecessarily degraded (anti-degradation). The states are also required to have policies in place for the implementation of less stringent water quality permit limits (anti-backsliding).
The State of Alaska has yet to fully develop its anti-degradation implementation procedures. The EPA said feels that it will be easier to defend the higher discharge limits in the new permit after the State of Alaska has established its anti-degradation and anti-backsliding procedures.
"We knew that the state was going to develop some interim anti-degradation procedures, and so we decided; 'well let's just wait for those procedures and then ask the state to revise the Red Dog Mine anti-degradation analysis consistent with those procedures and then reinstate those permit limits, and then we feel we will have a more defensible permit.' Even if the permit limits were appealed again, we feel we could defend them much easier than we can now," McGrath explained.
Nancy Sonafrank, Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation program manager for water quality standards, assessment and restoration, told Mining News the state has been in meetings with the EPA and other states on anti-degradation policies, but DEC does not have a timeline for finalizing its procedures.
Go, no go
The EPA said its decision gives Teck the authorization to begin mining the Aqqaluk deposit under the same conditions the miner has been under for the past 12 years.
"It is our position that they can go ahead and mine Aqqaluk under the permit we issued in January. They need to comply to all the permit conditions except those five which we have withdrawn, and for those five they need to comply with the limits in the 1998 permit. We know they can meet the limits for everything in the 1998 permit except total dissolved solids. So it is going to have to be a management decision on their part on whether or not they want to operate out of compliance with those permit-limits," McGrath told Mining News.
Teck, on the other hand, is nervous about mining Aqqaluk without having the permit issue resolved. Though the EPA had previously issued a compliance order that allowed Teck to discharge obtainable levels of total dissolved solids, it did not protect the miner from civil lawsuits.
"We operated under compliance orders, there were lawsuits filed and the list goes on-and-on. So unless we can get some resolution from them on what this really means - being out of compliance with that permit when we go into a new mining area - we are not comfortable we have the authorization we need," Kulas told Mining News.
When asked what the recent decision by the EPA means for Red Dog, Kulas said, "We are trying to decide that for ourselves."
The environmental manager said Teck is currently in discussions with the EPA in order to gain a better understanding of the implications of mining the new pit under the old and unobtainable limits.
Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.
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