April 23, 2026 — No mining proposal in recent Alaska history has generated more concern for the state’s salmon runs than the Pebble project.
The huge copper and gold deposit extends into multiple salmon-bearing watersheds, and sits upstream from Alaska’s most lucrative salmon fishery.
But now, in a new court filing, Pebble’s developer says just a tiny number of salmon are blocking the mine’s construction — 27 fish, to be exact, and all one species.
Federal regulators, who halted the project in 2023, are “preserving” 27 coho salmon “at the cost of $800 billion” in minerals, lawyers for Pebble Limited Partnership wrote in a recent brief filed in Alaska’s federal district court.
The remarkably specific fish figure aligns with the number of spawning salmon counted years ago in a stream directly within the proposed mine site.