Supreme Court Allows Miners to Destroy Alaskan Lake

Seven years after the previous U.S. administration succeeded in expanding waste disposal options for mining companies, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday that Coeur d’Alene Mine Company can dump 4.5 million tons of mine tailings into a 23-acre lake — and kill all the fish. “‘If a mining company can turn Lower Slate Lake in Alaska into a lifeless waste dump, other polluters with solids in their water can potentially do the same to any water body in America,’ said Trip Van Noppen, president of Earthjustice, which had participated in the litigation.” H. Josef Hebert of the Associated Press.