By Dustin Hurst
Watchdog.org
The backers of a potentially lucrative mine project in the Alaskan wildness announced they will sue the Environmental Protection Agency over what investors say is a massive overreach of government regulatory power.
Pebble Limited Partnership, the backers of the not-yet-proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska’a pristine Bristol Bay region, is asking a district court to stop the EPA from killing or restricting the mine project before the project even applies for federal and state permits.
The EPA announced in February it would use its authority under Secton 404(c) of the Clean Water Act to, as the agency claims, protect delicate watersheds and salmon runs vital to the region’s economy, which is based largely on fishing.