An Interior Alaska nonprofit that advocates for public safety is dropping its lawsuit against the Alaska Department of Transportation (AKDOT) – at least for now – due to a lack of funds.
The group had been suing the state over the gold ore haul that stretches from the Manh Choh mine near Tetlin to the Fort Knox processing facility north of Fairbanks.
The Committee for Safe Communities (CSC) lawsuit had sought injunctive relief to make AKDOT stop the haul, among other demands.
Patrice Lee, the secretary and spokesperson for the Committee for CSC, told KUAC Thursday that the reason her group chose to drop the suit is pretty straightforward.
“Probably the most prominent reason is that we ran out of money,” she said.
Legal costs for CSC had reached just shy of $100,000, according to Lee.
“We don’t have the deep pockets that mining companies and the DOT have. We don’t have banks of attorneys and things at our disposal,” she said.
Mining companies Kinross Alaska and Contango Ore are backing the Manh Choh project in a joint venture called Peak Gold. At 70%, Kinross is the majority owner.
To ship ore from the mine to the processing facility, Peak Gold contracted 95-foot trucks operated by Black Gold Transport to run 24/7 on a route that uses about 250 miles of public highways one way. Empty trucks then return to the mine along the same corridor.
Filed in 2023, the nonprofit’s original complaint was split into four distinct counts that collectively accused the state of failing to enforce various regulations and endangering the public.
Lee said those concerns remain, even if the lawsuit doesn’t.
“We didn’t stop the case because we thought that somehow the roads had become safe. They’re not any safer now than they were when we started it,” she said, though she pointed to a route change as one of the outcomes of the case.
In June 2024, Fairbanks Superior Court Judge Patricia Haines ruled in favor of AKDOT on three of the four counts after the state requested a final judgment from the court.
In the first of those, the committee had alleged that AKDOT was failing to make the trucking contractor follow size and weight limitations in Alaska Administrative Code.
Haines’ order suggests that whether Black Gold Transport’s loads exceeded those limitations is a moot point because the relevant power rests with the executive branch. The judiciary can’t step in to make a state department enforce regulations, according to the ruling.
“Issuing such an order would violate separation of powers,” Haines wrote.
Her order also tossed a count that argued AKDOT had allowed a new “industrial use” on the highway without taking steps to designate the route as an industrial use highway.
The last count on which Haines ruled for the state involved a claim that AKDOT would be liable as an accomplice to negligent driving for facilitating an operation that poses risks to kids traveling to and from school on buses.
The judge’s order says the committee didn’t accuse any party of negligent driving and that, regardless, “failing to prevent another person from driving negligently is not sufficient” for establishing criminal liability.
But the case stayed open because Haines had declined to rule on a count that said the state created a public nuisance by allowing the ore haul.
In her order from last June, Haines cited a legal definition describing a public nuisance as an “unreasonable interference with a right common to the general public.” A trial had been scheduled for this August for a jury to decide whether the haul meets that criterion.
But that trial date is no more. Haines signed off on the stipulation to close the case on May 9. The parties agreed to dismiss the lawsuit without prejudice, however, which means the plaintiff is able to sue again.
And Lee says that could happen.
“We’re never gonna rule out any action. We’ll do what we need to, as best we can, to protect the community and to make the roads safer for everyone,” she said.
The ore haul began in late 2023. The companies expect it to continue until late 2028 or early 2029, though further exploration could still extend Manh Choh's production life.
Meadow Riedel, the external affairs manager for Kinross Alaska, declined to interview Thursday. But in an emailed prepared statement, she said Peak Gold is pleased that the lawsuit was dropped, though the company was not named as a defendant in the case.
Riedel added that the company continues to “operate safely and successfully in Interior Alaska” with a team of 750 people, most of whom are from within Alaska.
Attorneys for the plaintiff and for the state did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.
Note: This story was updated to correct the projected production life of the Manh Choh mine.