Miners Advocacy Council, Inc. v. State, Department of Environmental Conservation

OPINION

RABINO WITZ, Justice.

These consolidated appeals raise procedural as well as substantive challenges to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) certification of National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits issued to placer gold miners in Alaska by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

I. BACKGROUND AND PRIOR PROCEEDINGS.

To comply with the federal Clean Water Act, 1 a person wishing to discharge pollutants into waters of the United States must secure an NPDES permit from EPA. 2 EPA may not issue an NPDES permit unless the resulting…