EARTHWORKS INDUSTRIES INC. - CORTINA UPDATE
TSX-V: EWK OTCQB: EAATF
VANCOUVER, BC, Sept. 8, 2025 /CNW/ - Earthworks Industries, Inc. (the "Company") wishes to update all on the status of our pending Complaint challenging the purported termination of the Lease ('the Lease") for the proposed integrated waste handling project in California, held by the Company's wholly owned U.S. subsidiary, Cortina Integrated Waste Management Inc., (CIWM), and to affirm the Company's plan for assertively moving forward.
CIWM received U.S. government approval of the Lease of 180 hectares (443 acres) of the Cortina Rancheria in California's Colusa County, in 2007. Pursuant to the Lease, CIWM is developing a state-of-the-art integrated waste handling facility, which includes a material recovery system, composting, contaminated soil remediation, power generation and landfill operations.
First and foremost, we leased 443 acres of the Cortina Rancheria, a 640-acre property located approximately 100 miles from San Francisco, specifically because it is Tribal land held in trust by the U.S. federal government and is therefore exempt from state and local regulation. It provides us land ideal for the development of state-of-the-art waste handling operations. CIWM has invested significant resources to undertake the steps necessary to permit and operate the project pursuant to the Lease and applicable Tribal and federal law.
When CIWM and the Tribe first entered discussions regarding the development opportunity, we also sat down with the U.S Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to discuss the project. The agency fully supported the development and its long-term benefit to the Tribe. They recognized that even when the landfill was eventually filled, new technology would be available to continue responsibly processing materials.
Our development opportunity is not limited to Cortina but could also be of major benefit to other Tribes with a similar demographics and available land. Enhancing that opportunity to work with other Tribes is one of the main motivations for our focused approach at Cortina.
Another important reason for choosing the Cortina location was that we wanted to create our model facility on California, which has the highest standards for the environment anywhere in the world. This will set the standard for future siting actions and has been a primary reason for interest in the Company most recently.
We embrace working with first nations specifically because of their attachment to the land and environment, and while some thought Tribal land would streamline the process, it was quite the opposite. The bar was even higher because of Tribal and federal regulatory environmental requirements.
We see a tremendous window of opportunity for the First Nations to help contribute to the solutions of our coming waste challenges over the next several years, and we intend to help foster that opportunity.
That is the model we have assiduously developed at Cortina, and it is all about jurisdictional advantages and the availability of land where we might locate these facilities. We want to showcase Cortina to demonstrate the "facility of the future" and work in co-operation with others to offer the best available technologies.
Management remains focused on our long-term growth strategy. We will continue to explore additional opportunities that build upon the Cortina model, which will serve as a blueprint for future waste handling and recycling projects. We are committed to maintaining the highest industry standards as we look to develop projects on both Tribal and private lands. CIWM's work over the past decade has set the stage for a new era of waste handling facilities in North America. Because of our unique approach, the Company has attracted significant interest from both institutional and public investors over the years, and we expect this interest to continue to grow.
The Company also wishes to report on the Complaint filed in the U.S District Court for the Eastern District of California by Cortina Integrated Waste Management Inc., challenging the Order of the U.S. Department of the Interior's, Board of Indian Appeals (IBIA), which purports to cancel the federally approved lease between CIWM and the Kletsel Dehe Wintun Nation of the Cortina Rancheria, California.
CIWM's Complaint challenges the IBIA order, issued on June 27, 2024, and requests the Court to enter a judgement for the Company providing the following relief.
- Declare that the IBIA decision violates the Administrative Procedures Act;
- Issue injunctive relief to vacate and set aside the IBIA decision affirming the Bureau of Indian Affairs' termination of the Lease;
- Fully reinstate the Lease; and
- Grant CIWM such other relief as the Court deems just and proper.
CIWM and the United States ("U.S.") Department of the Interior, U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs and Interior Board of Indian Appeals ("Federal Defendants") and Defendant-Intervenor Kletsel Dehe Wintun Nation of the Cortina Rancheria ("Tribe") have continued to meet the timelines outlined in the joint briefing schedule referenced in the previous news release by the Company dated, April 11, 2025.
The Federal Defendants' and Tribe's Opposition / Cross-motions were both timely submitted on June 30, 2025. CIWM's Reply / Opposition was filed August 8, 2025. The Federal Defendants' and Tribe's Cross-motion Reply was filed September 4, 2025. We now look forward to the hearing scheduled for October 27, 2025, and the court's decision.
The Company looks forward to the tremendous opportunities in the waste industry for proper handling practices at additional locations that align with the highest standards from an environmental perspective.
Forward Looking Statements:
This news release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively 'forward-looking statements") within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities regulations. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as of the date of this news release. Any statements that involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objective assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as "expects", or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "budget", "scheduled", "forecasts", "estimates", "believes" or "intends" or "may" or "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of the Company or CIWM to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements are described under the "Risks and Uncertainties Statement" attached to this news release. Forward- looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this News Release. The Company will update these forward-looking statement and Risks and Uncertainties as required to reflect new information, results, future events, circumstances, or if management's estimates or opinions should change, or otherwise. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, the reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its regulation services provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this News Release.
SOURCE Earthworks Industries Inc.
For further information, contact: David Atkinson, Earthworks Industries Inc., 604-669-3143
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