STOP PEBBLE MINE

Our Leaders Must Take Action to Protect Bristol Bay

It is time for our elected leaders in Congress and in Alaska to pass legislation that will protect the entire Bristol Bay watershed and region forever. 

HISTORY: 

The fight against Pebble Mine has been around for over 30 years.

In 2011, EPA started a watershed assessment and in 2014 announced that Pebble would destroy Bristol Bay.

In 2014 Alaska voters passed “Bristol Bay Forever” ballot initiative to add protections for Bristol Bay.

In 2018, Trump pressured the EPA to drop protections for Bristol Bay. 

In 2020,  Pebble Executives were caught on tape bragging about a larger mine footprint than was disclosed. 

In 2020, Army Corps Denied Pebble’s permit.

In the spring of 2022, the EPA released a proposed determination to veto the permit on the grounds of preventing waste discharge in the area surrounding the mining claim. That summer, we helped collect 31,018 comments from Alaskans in favor of the veto.

In the winter of 2022, the EPA followed up with a recommended determination to veto the permit, and now Alaskans look to the Biden administration to heed their interests and protect Bristol Bay.

In early 2023, on January 31, the EPA published its “Final Determination” outlining prohibitions and restrictions that will prevent a large-scale mine from being developed at the Pebble deposit due to the adverse impacts such a mine would have on Bristol Bay’s people, waters, and salmon fishery. This news is decades in the making and was initiated in 2010 when Bristol Bay’s Tribes first formally petitioned the EPA to use their authority under the Clean Water Act to protect the pristine watershed.