Mr. Ron Thiessen reports

NORTHERN DYNASTY FILES TWO SEPARATE ACTIONS: SEEKING TO VACATE EPA'S ILLEGAL VETO AND A TAKINGS CASE

Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. and Pebble LP are filing two separate actions in the federal courts challenging the federal government's actions to prevent the companies from building a mine at the Pebble project.

Action seeks to overturn United States Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) illegal veto

One action, in federal district court in Alaska, seeks to vacate the EPA's veto of a development at Pebble. This is the main focus of Northern Dynasty's legal actions. The company is confident that the court will vacate the EPA veto and allow permitting of the Pebble project to resume because, as it has previously stated, the veto violated the law and was arbitrary and capricious. The complaint in this action alleges, among many other points, the veto was issued in violation of various federal statutes regarding Alaska's statehood rights and a land exchange approved by Congress; it was based on an overly broad legal interpretation of the EPA's jurisdiction which has since been overruled by the Supreme Court; its geographic scope exceeds that allowed by the statute; it was based on information previously developed by the EPA in an illegal pre-emptive veto process that was designed to reach a predetermined result; and the factual basis stated to support the veto is directly contradicted by the July, 2020, environmental impact statement published by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), which is an important part of the administrative record. The EPA has not demonstrated that either the development of the Pebble deposit will have unacceptable adverse effects under Section 404(c), or that there are any impacts to Bristol Bay fisheries that would justify the extreme measures in the final determination (veto).

"Whatever authority the EPA may have under Section 404(c), the general provision in the Clean Water Act cannot authorize the EPA to take action to block the specific economic activity that was Congress's express purpose for granting these lands to the State of Alaska under the Cook Inlet Land Exchange," Ron Thiessen, Northern Dynasty president and chief executive officer, stated. "It cannot authorize the EPA to override the state's regulatory preferences for the lands, or the state's preference to allow modest use of some streams and wetlands in the vicinity of the deposit to facilitate the extraction of the valuable critical minerals. This is just another example of gross EPA overreach of the powers granted to it by Congress."

Takings case

An action is also being filed in the United States Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C., claiming that the actions by the EPA constitute an unconstitutional "taking" of Northern Dynasty's and the Pebble partnership's property. The company plans to ask the court to defer considering this action until the EPA veto case, discussed herein, has been finally resolved. Northern Dynasty's permitting strategy is focused entirely on winning the EPA veto case and permitting the Pebble project. The company has filed a takings case against the federal government to preserve its ability to seek compensation for a violation of its rights in line with the protections under the Fifth Amendment. There are procedural rules regarding takings cases that made it necessary to get this claim on file at this time. Northern Dynasty notes, however, that the damages for taking the world's largest undeveloped copper deposit could be very substantial.

"Our priority is to advance the district federal court complaint, because overturning the illegal veto removes a major impediment from the path of getting the permit to build the proposed mine," said Mr. Thiessen. "The filing of the takings complaint puts the U.S. government on notice that we will be seeking very substantial compensation if they continue to illegally block the lawful permitting process. It is basically an insurance policy, ensuring that this case is available to us when, or if, we decide to pursue it further."

The State of Alaska will also be filing similar actions in federal district court in Alaska and the United States Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C.

About Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd.

Northern Dynasty is a mineral exploration and development company based in Vancouver, Canada. Northern Dynasty's principal asset, owned through its wholly owned Alaska-based U.S. subsidiary, Pebble, is a 100-per-cent interest in a contiguous block of 1,840 mineral claims in southwestern Alaska, including the Pebble deposit, located 200 miles from Anchorage and 125 miles from Bristol Bay. The Pebble partnership is the proponent of the Pebble project.

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