Mr. Ronald Thiessen reports

US ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY RE-STARTS PROCESS TO WITHDRAW OBAMA-ERA 'PROPOSED DETERMINATION'

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will restart the process to withdraw a proposed determination initiated by the Obama administration in 2014 under Section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act (CWA) in an unprecedented attempt to pre-emptively veto southwest Alaska's Pebble project before it received an objective, scientific regulatory review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

In May, 2017, Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd.'s 100-per-cent-owned U.S. subsidiary Pebble Limited Partnership (PLP) entered into a settlement agreement with EPA that allowed the Pebble project to proceed into normal course permitting under the CWA and NEPA. EPA further agreed to initiate a process to propose to withdraw its proposed determination, a process that was subsequently suspended by former EPA administrator Scott Pruitt in January, 2018.

Pebble Partnership chief executive officer Tom Collier said the pre-emptive regulatory action initiated by the Obama-era EPA in 2014 represents a dangerous precedent and poor public policy that threatens investment in responsible resource development throughout the United States.

"The idea that development projects can be vetoed before they are even proposed or a comprehensive, permitting process has been undertaken is one that should not take root in this country," Mr. Collier said. "It is wholly inconsistent with the rule of law and a serious deterrent to resource investment and industrial development, and it is for those reasons that we expect the proposed determination to be withdrawn by this administration."

Meanwhile, the environmental impact statement (EIS) and the federal permitting process for Pebble under NEPA being led by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers continue to advance. The corps has published a timeline that indicates it expects to finalize the Pebble project EIS in early 2020 and issue a final record of decision by the middle of next year.

"We have every confidence that the Pebble project as proposed will meet the rigorous environmental standards enforced in Alaska and the [United States] and that the EIS permitting process now under way will demonstrate that compliance through an open, objective, transparent and science-driven review," Mr. Collier said.

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 Limited Partnership, is a 100-per-cent interest in a contiguous block of 2,402 mineral claims in southwest Alaska, including the Pebble deposit. PLP is the proponent of the Pebble project, an initiative to develop one of the world's most important mineral resources.

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