The Orutsararmiut Native Council, Organized Village of Kwethluk, and the Tuluksak Native Community have filed a lawsuit to stop a giant gold mine.
Three Alaska Native tribes, with the help of the environmental law firm Earthjustice, sued the federal government on Tuesday, seeking to block development of a large gold mine in Southwest Alaska.
In a 29-page complaint filed in U.S. District Court, they claim various federal agencies improperly permitted the Donlin Gold Mine.
Specifically, they allege that officials failed to properly analyze the environmental impact if there were to be a failure of a planned dam that would hold back the mine waste, known as tailings.
In addition, they allege that officials failed to correctly determine the mine’s impact on the Kuskokwim River, and failed to take into account the effects of the mine on the health of area residents.
“Tribes up and down the Kuskokwim River and throughout the region are banding together because we do not want to see this mine, including the pipeline, materialize,” said Walter Jim, chairman of the Orutsararmiut Native Council, in a written statement announcing the lawsuit.
The Orutsararmiut Native Council, Organized Village of Kwethluk and the Tuluksak Native Community are the three plaintiffs in the case.
The federal government has not yet replied to the lawsuit.
The Mumbai airport has been identified as the largest hub of gold smuggling in India by the customs department. This revelation was made after the seizure of 604kg of smuggled gold worth Rs 360 crore at the Mumbai international airport within a period of 11 months.
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