The Trump administration is defending in court a Biden-era Environmental Protection Agency veto that blocks Alaska's Pebble Mine, a copper-rich project whose suppression industry sources are attributing in part to Donald Trump Jr.'s past opposition to the development.
The Department of Justice is representing the EPA in ongoing litigation to preserve the veto, which the Biden administration issued in January 2023 under the Clean Water Act. Biden's EPA used a rarely invoked provision of that law - sometimes referred to as a kill switch - to block the mine's permit process. Pebble Limited Partnership, the company seeking to develop the mine, filed suit over the decision. The state of Alaska joined as a co-plaintiff.
