mining

An Alaskan Mining Project: One Example of How Environmental Regulations are Strangling the U.S. Economy

by Myron Ebell on June 2, 2011 · 2 comments

in Deregulate to Stimulate, Economy, Environment, Features, Natural Resources, Regulation

Post image for An Alaskan Mining Project: One Example of How Environmental Regulations are Strangling the U.S. Economy

Rick Manning of Americans for Limited Government notes here that one of the reasons the American economy is stuck in neutral is that investors in new projects are being stymied by environmental regulations. The example he gives is a huge proposed new copper and gold mine in Alaska called the Pebble Project that is being studied to death.

The co-owners of the Pebble Project are a British and a Canadian company. They want to invest billions of dollars in a mine that would probably create close to a thousand high-paying jobs for at least fifty years. It would also add tens of billions of dollars to the American economy and pay billions of dollars in royalties to the State of Alaska, which owns the land and subsurface rights.

The Pebble Project’s owners have reportedly already spent $125 million on the environmental research reports required to open the mine. But opponents have petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency to deny a Clean Water Act permit for the mine before the owners have even applied for an operating permit. Incredibly, the EPA is seriously considering this outrageous petition. And even more outrageously, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson this spring attended and spoke at a reception for opponents of the mine, which was hosted in the Supreme Court by retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor!

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CEI Podcast for February 3, 2011: The EPA vs. West Virginia

by Ryan Young on February 3, 2011

in Energy, Environment, Natural Resources, Podcast

Have a listen here.

Energy Policy Analyst William Yeatman looks over the EPA’s recent decision to deny a mining permit in Logan County, West Virginia that would have created 250 jobs. William believes the EPA has overestimated the proposed mine’s environmental effects. Jobs, he contends, are being treated as less important than bugs. The decision has also set up a heated political conflict between West Virginia and Washington, D.C.

Video Evidence Suggests Chevron Lawsuit Riddled With Corruption, Santacruz Comments on the Case

by Christine Hall on September 1, 2009 · 1 comment

in Environment, Features, International, Natural Resources

A major scandal has arisen in the biggest environmental lawsuit in history – the $27 billion lawsuit against Chevron oil company brought by a lawyer representing citizens of Ecuador.

As reported in Tuesday’s New York Times, Chevron has released video implicating Ecuador government officials close to the president in a massive bribery scheme. Chevron claims its covertly recorded videos “reveal a $3 million bribery scheme implicating the judge presiding over the environmental lawsuit currently pending against Chevron and individuals who identify themselves as representatives of the Ecuadorian government and its ruling party.” The president responded, in part, by threatening to shut down a television station that aired the videos.

In a Forbes commentary this summer (“Toxic Revenge“), CEI journalism fellow Silvia Santacruz explained why the lawsuit was unjust in the first place (exempting the state-owned oil company, for example). She noted that Ecuador lawsuits targeting international companies face a court system rated corrupt by the United Nations, the International Bar Association and the U.S. State Department.

Santacruz also explains why such lawsuits, along with a 50% “windfall profits” tax, have directly harmed the people of Ecuador, scaring away foreign investment. Lago Agrio, where the lawsuit against Chevron was brought, is poor in literacy levels and in basic needs, like running water. In fact, Santacruz produced a YouTube video, UnderMining Prosperity, to call attention to the plight of Ecuadorian people.