The Pebble Partnership is expected to issue a rebuttal to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) February ruling to halt the Pebble Project through the use of the Clean Water Act.

The Hill reported the Pebble Partnership will issue its response on April 29.

Collier said the move amounts to regulatory overreach by the agency.

“We don’t believe they have the statutory authority,” he said.

The battle between the Pebble Partnership and the government has grown increasingly tense in recent months as the EPA issued its decision before final mine plans have been submitted.

The Pebble Partnership contends that the proposed mining site is the world’s largest deposit of undiscovered copper and gold.

Collier said the project would result in as many as 15,000 permanent jobs, thousands of them in an economically battered region of southwestern Alaska.

But opponents of the project, including environmental groups, say the Pebble mine could pollute Bristol Bay and its wild salmon population.

The EPA dust-up is the latest in a series of regulatory and financial setbacks dealt to the Pebble Mine project, but Collier maintained the project remains viable.