Stopping the Kensington Mine Project

The document details a legal battle over the Kensington gold mine in Southeast Alaska, where the Army Corps of Engineers classified toxic mine waste as 'fill material' to bypass EPA limits. While the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal initially ruled the permit illegal in 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed this decision in 2009, allowing the mine to operate and dump waste into a sub-alpine lake.

• The Army Corps of Engineers issued a permit for a gold mine by classifying chemically processed, toxic mine waste as 'fill material' under the Clean Water Act, which allowed the project to bypass strict EPA pollution limits.
• The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal ruled in March 2007 that the permit allowing mine waste to be dumped in the lake was illegal, a decision that all 27 active judges of the court refused to reconsider on October 29, 2007.
• On June 22, 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal's decision in a 6–3 ruling, resulting in the mine operating and dumping waste into a sub-alpine lake.

APA

Earthjustice (2005). Stopping the Kensington Mine Project. https://earthjustice.org/case/kensington-mine-project

Chicago

Earthjustice. Stopping the Kensington Mine Project. 2005. https://earthjustice.org/case/kensington-mine-project.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Earthjustice |title=Stopping the Kensington Mine Project |date=19 October 2005 |url=https://earthjustice.org/case/kensington-mine-project |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{earthjustice2005stopping, author = {{Earthjustice}}, title = {{Stopping the Kensington Mine Project}}, institution = {Earthjustice}, year = {2005}, month = oct, url = {https://earthjustice.org/case/kensington-mine-project}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }