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ANCHORAGE - Gov. Sarah Palin is praising the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to step into an environmental dispute over the Kensington Mine near Juneau.

Palin said she is confident the high court will agree that the project can be developed and operated in an environmentally safe way.

At issue is a challenge by environmentalists to the planned dumping of waste from gold mining into Lower Slate Lake in the Tongass National Forest.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had issued a permit for the dumping after the corps and the Environmental Protection Agency agreed to a regulatory change in 2002.