Alaska Native Corporations Challenge EPA’s Pebble Mine Veto, Claiming Overreach of Authority Under Clean Water Act.

Two Alaska Native Village corporations, Alamnos Natives Ltd. and Alaska Peninsula Corp., are challenging the Obama administration in the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska, alleging that the EPA overstepped its authority by issuing a rare veto under the Clean Water Act last year to block the Pebble mine in a watershed that supports the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery. The Pacific Legal Foundation, a nonprofit representing the groups, has asked the court to find Section 404 of the clean Water Act unconstitutional, claiming it gives EPA unfettered authority that belongs to Congress, not a federal agency.