Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court gave Idaho-based Coeur the go-ahead to dump waste from the mine into nearby Slate Lake. But regional EPA official Michael Gearheard sent a letter to the Corps this week asking it to look at an alternative method to handle the tailings. The EPA estimates the re-evaluation will take eight months.
Construction at the mine has been on hold since 2006. Coeur spokesman Tony Ebersole tells the Juneau Empire that the EPA letter is "really unbelievable." He says it has taken nine years to get the permit to dispose of tailings in the lake and that federal and state agencies all supported it.
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