November 26, 2025 — The US Chamber of Commerce has stepped into the long-running legal fight over the Pebble Mine project, filing an amicus brief on Tuesday in federal court that signals a major escalation in one of Alaska’s most contentious development battles.
The Chamber, the country’s largest business advocacy organization, submitted its motion to US District Judge Sharon Gleason, asking the court to accept its friend-of-the-court filing in support of Northern Dynasty Minerals, the Canadian parent company behind Pebble.
The move gives Pebble a powerful new ally as the company continues to challenge the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2023 veto of the mine under the Clean Water Act. That veto, which halted the project before it could advance toward construction, cited the potential for catastrophic impacts to Bristol Bay’s world-leading sockeye salmon fishery. Pebble’s supporters argue the EPA far exceeded its authority and imposed a precedent-setting blockade on domestic mining projects, while opponents, including environmental groups, maintain the watershed is too valuable and too vulnerable to risk.