Northern Dynasty appoints HDR Alaska to start Pebble permitting process

The proponent of the controversial Pebble copper/gold project, in Alaska, one of the largest undeveloped projects in the world, is taking advantage of US President Donald Trump’s pro-development agenda and has appointed regulatory and permitting consultant HDR Alaska to start the federal and state permitting processes for the megaproject. Vancouver-based Northern Dynasty on Wednesday said HDR would start preparing the necessary documentation to initiate permitting under the Clean Water Act (CWA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by the end of the year, in anticipation of success for Northern Dynasty in its implementation of a multidimensional strategy to address the US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) preemptive regulatory veto under Section 404(c) of the CWA.