by Michael Bastasch
A government ecologist was instrumental in the Environmental
Protection Agency’s blocking of a major Alaska gold mine left the U.S.
after congressional investigators found out he flouted federal records
law.
A report published by Republicans on the House science committee
found that Phil North, an EPA ecologist, came up with the plan to use
the Clean Water Act to block the Pebble Mine from ever being built in
Alaska’s Bristol Bay. North convinced the EPA to use an “unprecedented”
method for shutting down the mining project, according to the report.
House science committee staff found out about North’s involvement in Pebble from a 2013 news article.
The committee quickly sent a request to EPA “to request North’s
relevant documents and communications.” The committee also wanted North
to come in for a transcribed interview, but North was less than
compliant.
...“North then left the country and avoided service by the U.S. Marshals
Service of a subpoena to be deposed by the Committee,” the House
committee wrote. “According to press reports, North was most recently in
Australia.”
...Republicans also shows how EPA employees, including North, convinced
Alaskan tribes in the region to write a letter to the agency asking them
to preemptively veto Pebble — something the EPA had never done before.
The whole “grassroots” push against the mine was orchestrated by EPA and
its allies, according to the report.
A great example of "collaboration".
Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.
Thursday, November 05, 2015
EPA Official Behind Pebble Mine Defeat Fled The Country Amid Congressional Probe
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