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This week marked another flurry of legal briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court battle over the Kensington gold mine.

These extra briefs are answers to the two extra questions that the court asked for months after oral arguments. A decision is expected by the end of the court's term in June.

The mine, owned by Idaho-based Coeur d'Alene Mines Corp., is fighting to get back its permits to deposit ground-up waste rock from Kensington into Lower Slate Lake. Kensington is located 45 miles northwest of Juneau on the north side of Berners Bay.

The Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, Lynn Canal Conservation and the Juneau Group of the Sierra Club sued, saying the permits violated the Clean Water Act. The environmentalists lost in a lower court, but the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed in 2007 and canceled the mine's permits.

The environmentalists say that putting the waste rock in the lake would kill the lake life and set a bad precedent for other developers, while the miners and the government say it's the environmentally preferred alternative.

Coeur appealed to the Supreme Court, and the state of Alaska joined because it said the decision could affect other Alaska mines. Goldbelt Inc., Juneau's urban Alaska Native corporation, joined Coeur because it had a business deal with the company that hinged on the mine opening. The federal government is defending its permit decision.

The latest questions from the court delve into Clean Water Act enforcement and procedures. Now that the parties have copies of each others' briefs, a round of replies is due May 22.