Northern Dynasty Minerals can move forward with its controversial plan to develop its Pebble Mine, a gold and copper mine proposed to be located in Alaska’s Bristol Bay. Under a court agreement reached with the Environmental Protection Agency on May 11, Northern Dynasty will apply with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build the mine, which the company says is smaller in scope than previous proposals. The Corps will conduct an environmental impact statement on the project. The EPA’s decision reverses a 2014 action that prevented the company from applying with the Corps because of the harm the mine could cause to the water and area salmon fisheries. Even if the federal government permits the mine, it will have to win approval from the state Legislature. In an analysis released in February, Kerrisdale Capital said the mine was not viable, and that the mining company “has hired at least two major engineering firms to prepare preliminary feasibility studies of Pebble … yet it has failed to publish their findings—because they were damning.”