Northern Dynasty Minerals Reports ‘Preliminary Injuction’ Granted To Halt EPA Process at Pebble Mine

Northern Dynasty Minerals (TSX:NDM,NYSE MKT: NAK) announced that the US federal court has granted the Pebble Limited Partnership’s request for a preliminary injunction in its proceedings against the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The injunction will stop the EPA from taking further regulatory process until the federal judge presiding over Pebble’s Federal Advisory Committee Act case is able to make a final decision.

Pebble Partnership CEO, Tom Collier, said:

Although the decision is a procedural victory and does not resolve our claims that EPA pursued a biased and predetermined 404c veto initiative against Pebble by not complying with the requirements of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (“FACA”), the decision is important for several reasons. Specifically, the court has granted a Preliminary Injunction that blocks EPA from taking any further steps in the 404c regulatory process it has initiated at Pebble before Judge Holland is able to issue a final decision on the merits of our FACA case. We expect the case may take several months to complete. This means that, for first time, EPA’s march to preemptively veto Pebble has been halted.

Northern Dynasty president and CEO, Ron Thiessen, said:

We are heartened by this procedural ruling in Pebble’s favour, and look forward to the discovery process and the opportunity to fully argue the merits of our case before the court. We continue to believe that Pebble is a mineral resource of national importance that deserves to be comprehensively reviewed by federal and state regulatory agencies under the National Environmental Policy Act and Clean Water Act.

Click here to read the Northern Dynasty Minerals (TSX:NDM,NYSE,MKT:,NAK) press release