How do I submit a public comment on Sumitomo, Pogo Mine, Goodpaster River?

Submit your comment through the agency's official portal at https://rrs.usace.army.mil/rrs/public-notices?search=POA-1996-00211. This page includes talking points and a starter comment you can make your own.

When is the public comment deadline for Sumitomo, Pogo Mine, Goodpaster River?

Comments are due by December 1, 2026. Comments received after the deadline may not be considered by the agency.

Do public comments actually change federal decisions?

Yes, when they are substantive. Agencies are legally required to read and respond to substantive comments before finalizing a rule, and specific personal comments about real places and real uses carry far more weight than identical form letters. Courts have overturned rules when agencies ignored substantive comments.

Stop Pogo Mine from permanently filling 9.18 acres of Liese Creek wetlands

4 holes in the agency’s own analysis

Make these points, in your own words

This permit would authorize the permanent fill of approximately 9.18 acres of wetlands adjacent to Liese Creek, a tributary of the Goodpaster River in interior Alaska, destroying that wetland habitat forever.
Oppose modifying permit POA-1996-00211 to allow Northern Star (Pogo) LLC to expand rock storage and laydown areas by burying wetlands next to the existing 1380 portals.
Permanently filling nearly 9.18 acres of wetlands next to a Goodpaster River tributary for non-mineralized rock storage raises serious habitat concerns that the Corps must weigh before granting this modification.
The proposed stilling basin and drainage ditch system will redirect stormwater runoff from the new rock storage pads, adding new hydrological impacts to wetlands already adjacent to Liese Creek.

Say something only you can say. The law requires the agency to consider and respond to substantive comments, and specifics are what make a comment substantive.

PLAN's read: high threat

A language model's read of the agency's notice, not an agency rating and not an editor's finding. It’s read from the official notice ↗, and it isn’t a grade.

Northern Star wants to bury 9.18 acres of wetlands near Liese Creek forever to expand rock storage at Pogo Mine.

What’s at risk

Roughly 9.18 acres of wetlands adjacent to Liese Creek, a tributary of the Goodpaster River, would be permanently destroyed. The loss is caused by filling them with rock to create new storage and laydown areas for the mine.

If this goes through

Once the Army Corps issues the permit, the wetland fill is permanent and the habitat cannot be restored.

Our plain-English read of the official notice ↗. Check it against the agency’s own words below.

In the agency’s own words

Northern Star (Pogo) LLC (POC: Michael Eckert), stated the purpose is to expand existing facilities at the Pogo Mine for non-mineralized rock storage and associated material and equipment laydown adjacent to the existing 1380 portals. The portals have already been constructed; the proposed work concerns the adjacent rock-storage and laydown expansion. No diversion, relocation, or channel modification of Liese Creek is proposed. PROPOSED WORK: The proposed work is a modification of activities previously authorized under POA-1996-00211. An additional total of approximately 9.18 acres of wetlands would be permanentl…

Army Corps public notice ↗

The groups on this fight

4 groups predicted likely to care in Alaska

Predicted likely to care is a guess from the group's sourced work in Alaska, with no link to this decision. Give straight to them; nothing routes through us.

Alaska Wilderness League
Predicted likely to care · a guess
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska: Built around defending the Arctic Refuge from oil and gas drilling.
Friends of Alaska National Wildlife Refuges
Predicted likely to care · a guess
Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska: Lead plaintiff in the November 2025 federal suit challenging the land exchange signed to put a road through the Izembek Wilderness.
Northern Alaska Environmental Center
Predicted likely to care · a guess
Gates of the Arctic (Ambler Road), Alaska: First-named plaintiff in Northern Alaska Environmental Center v. Trump, the Ambler road suit filed in 2020.
Southeast Alaska Conservation Council
Predicted likely to care · a guess
Tongass National Forest, Alaska: Southeast Alaska’s homegrown defender of the Tongass since 1970.

Every group above is on STAND for Public Lands, with its court record, its filings and who backs it.

Who signs it

The notice names no signer PLAN could read. PLAN names a decision-maker only when the document names one.

The ground

This fight isn’t bound to a map place in PLAN’s record yet. The notice names Liese Creek, Goodpaster River watershed, wetlands adjacent to Pogo Mine 1380 portals, approximately 9.18 acres of wetlands in interior Alaska (AK); none is a unit on the threatened lands map, so there’s no place page to open or watch.

The photograph on this page: Moose in a summer wildflower meadow. It’s the country this decision sits in, not the site itself. More Than Just Parks.

In court on this ground

This fight isn’t bound to a land unit in PLAN’s record yet, so there are no court cases to show for its ground.

Who holds the vote

PLAN’s record doesn’t tie a member of Congress to this fight yet. The scorecard grades the votes and bills that decide public lands; nothing joins a vote or a bill to this decision, so there’s no member to name here without guessing.

See how your members vote ↗

Calling your two senators and your representative is the Call door on this page.

Army CorpsWe track this on the agency’s own system of record, where most on-the-ground decisions live.

Filed underWetland Dredge Fill Habitat Mining Stormwater Tributary Impact

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Stop Pogo Mine from permanently filling 9.18 acres of Liese Creek wetlands

4 holes in the agency’s own analysis

In the agency’s own words

4 groups predicted likely to care in Alaska

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