CARSON CITY -- A Nevada Supreme Court ruling last April in a Newmont Mining Corp. gold mine case, a decision hailed by environmentalists as a victory for clean water standards, was overturned Tuesday by a high court panel.
The April decision had held that the state Division of Environmental Protection improperly eased water quality regulations for Newmont's big Gold Quarry mine near Carlin in eastern Nevada. After rehearing the case, a three-justice panel on Tuesday scrapped that initial finding.
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Justices Michael Douglas, Nancy Becker and Ron Parraguirre signed the new decision, which went against Reno-based Great Basin Mine Watch.
The panel's ruling overturns a 2004 decision by Carson City District Court Judge Bill Maddox that voided a 2002 state permit and called for more stringent water discharge standards at the mine that had been required under a 1994 permit for the mine.
Although Newmont substantially complied with the 1994 permit, Maddox had found that the water discharge standards in the 2002 permit violated federal anti-backsliding and state anti-degradation provisions.
The permit covers water pumped from a deep open-pit mine and discharged into the Humboldt River via Maggie Creek.
State officials had said the easing of some water discharge limits in the updated permit resulted from the need to correct technical and legal errors made in the original permit, and denied the changes were designed to benefit Newmont.
In the latest ruling, the Supreme Court said the state's anti-degradation provisions aren't violated in the Newmont case because a requirement to maintain higher standards on Maggie Creek hasn't been set yet.
In its earlier ruling, the court said that because Maggie Creek's natural water quality is higher than the standards that do apply, "it must be maintained at its higher standard."
