He said the ruling will allow any developer of a project -- from Pebble to a coal-fired power plant in the Midwest -- to get around federal water-quality standards by petitioning the U.S. Corps of Engineers to redefine its waste as fill material, Waldo said.

That allows for easier, cheaper disposal: when industrial waste is considered fill, it doesn't have to meet state water-quality standards at the point of discharge; however, the water downstream still must meet water-quality standards.
The Corps approved a permit allowing Coeur Alaska to put the tailings in Lower Slate Lake, even though it would kill the fish -- Dolly Varden and threespine stickleback. The permit required the company to restore the lake when the mine closes and restock it with fish. Otherwise, the company would have to forfeit its reclamation bond.

Monday's ruling clears the way for as much as 4.5 million tons of mine tailings -- a slurry of rock waste, water and trace contaminants left after gold is extracted from the ore -- to be deposited into the lake about three miles from the mine.

Obama administration officials wouldn't say Monday whether they agreed with the court's ruling.

"We are reviewing today's Supreme Court decision ... and its potential implications regarding EPA's authority to ensure effective environmental protection under the Clean Water Act," read a statement provided by the EPA, which initially opposed the mine's lake disposal plan.

Doug Garman, a Corps spokesman in Washington, D.C., said his agency had no comment on the court decision yet.