Bringing good news for the environmentalists, a U.S. appeals court has ruled that athe permit allowing an Alaska gold mine to deposit rock waste into a natural alpine lake was illegal and would be revoked.%%The permit, issued under a 2002 Environmental Protection Act policy change that eased mining rules, was the first to allow a hard-rock mine to dispose of tailings in a natural body of water under U.S. environmental rules dating from the 1970s.%% According to a press release the company plans to appeal to a 15-judge panel of the 9th Circuit and the Supreme Court of the United States.