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Supreme Court Death Sentence on Alaskan Lake

October 12th, 2011 3 comments

In a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has given Lower Slate Lake in the Tongass National Forest of Alaska, a death sentence. The ruling overturns a 9th District Court decision that revoked the permit issued by the Army Corps of Engineers that allowed Coeur Alaska’s Kensington gold mine to dump its mine tailings directly into the lake, killing all aquatic life in it. The Clean Water Act clearly states that you can’t dump mine waste into a water body, but the Corp of Engineers cleverly changed the name “waste” to “fill” and permitted the action, essentially killing the lake.

I find this decision appalling and in defiance of logic. Where is the justice in a decision like this. Are the 370 well paying jobs that this mining operation is creating worth the environmental destruction that it creates? I don’t think so.

Duration : 0:3:40

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