Kensington countdown

Posted by Paulette Simpson

Posted: June 16, 2009 - 10:46 am

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Early morning Mondays are rough in Juneau these days.

Why? U.S. Supreme Court Orders and Opinions are generally released at 10:00 a.m. EST on Mondays. The pending Kensington Mine decision didn’t happen yesterday so either on June 22nd or 29th we’ll likely all wake up to the news that the project can move forward – or not.

According to yesterday’s posting in the SCOTUS blog, “The Court, moving toward a summer recess starting late this month, has 14 decisions to go. It announced Monday that it would sit again on Thursday, and more decisions are expected then.”

The Kensington Mine is located 45 miles north-northwest of Juneau. The project is situated in a historic mining district with gold production dating back to 1890. The mine has already received about sixty permits from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Army Corps of Engineers and various state and local agencies.

In 2006 three environmental groups obtained an injunction to halt construction of the mine’s tailings facility, challenging the Army Corps of Engineers’ Section 404 permit.

The Federal District Court in Alaska dismissed the lawsuit and upheld the permit. The environmental groups appealed to San Francisco’s Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which in 2007 reversed the Alaska court decision and enjoined all construction at the tailings facility.

Coeur, the mine’s owner, took the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. The case was heard by the Court on January 12, 2009.

The surface facilities at the Kensington have been built. If the Supreme Court decides in favor of Coeur, construction should begin immediately on the final phase of the project - the disputed tailings facility - an isolated 23-acre muskeg lake in a state that has more than three million lakes.

Coeur has already invested $330 million in the project. The $75-$100 million final construction phase will last less than a year and employ 300 workers. Once construction is complete, 200 people will be permanently employed at the Kensington and those jobs will support another 170 indirect jobs in Juneau’s service and support sector.
An overwhelming majority (76 percent) of Juneau residents think the mine is important to the community. A similar percentage of Alaskans support exploration and drilling in ANWR. It’s the same well-funded environmental interests and a minority of locals holding us all back.

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