Coeur Alaska is just one permit away from receiving final approval for the underground Kensington gold mine about 46 miles northwest of downtown Juneau in Southeast Alaska.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a permit under the Clean Water Act on June 17 allowing mine tailings to be placed in Lower Slate Lake instead of constructing a dry tailings storage facility specified in the permit issued in 1998.

On June 15, the U.S. Forest Service announced approval of a modified plan of operations for the mine, leaving only one permit - the Environmental Protection Agency's National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit - to be issued before the mine can begin operations.

The EPA is expected to issue the NPDES permit "soon," said a June 15 press release from Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski's office commenting on the Forest Service's approval of the Kensington Gold Project.

Officials with Coeur Alaska, a subsidiary of Idaho-based Coeur D'Alene Mines Corp., say they hope to begin construction in July.

12 year project

The Corps of Engineers permit allows a dam to be built on the east fork of Slate Creek that will expand the 23-acre lake to 62 acres. The permit, which carries 32 conditions, allows Coeur to dredge and fill 3.4 million cubic yards of tailings, or discarded rock waste, into the lake.

One condition requires that at the end of the project, estimated at 12 years, all the affected area except for 7.74 acres be reclaimed and returned to federal waters.

Docks are to be built at Cascade Point and Slate Creek Cove. Mine workers, ore, equipment and fuel are to be transported across Berners Bay to the mine site.

Couer says the project will create some 225 jobs once the mine is fully operational.

Environmentalists ask for hearing

Kat Hall of the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, which opposes the project, said the group is waiting for the remaining permit before deciding whether to file a lawsuit to stop the project.

Two other environmental groups have since requested a hearing to ask the state to retract its certification of the Corps permit, according to a report in the Juneau Empire.

Lynn Canal Conservation and the Juneau chapter of the Sierra Club claim the permit violates the Clean Water Act, as well as several state laws.

According to Mark Rorick, chairman of the Sierra Club chapter, filing a request for a hearing preserves the groups' right to file a claim in state court if the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation doesn't change its position on the Corps permit.

DEC certified the draft federal permit May 6, which was required before federal authorities would approve the final permit, state officials told the Juneau newspaper.

DEC sent out a notice last week to 500 people who previously commented on the gold project, giving the public 20 days to comment on whether it should hold the hearing.

The final decision will come from DEC's commissioner.

-The Associated Press contributed to this report