October 10, 2019 — Standing on the steps of the James M. Fitzgerald United States Courthouse in 40-degree Farenheight weather, speaker after speaker behind a banner declaring “Defend Bristol Bay”, lambasted recent federal actions that appear to ready the way for the development of Pebble Mine.
The proposed open-pit gold, copper and molybdenum mine is nearly universally opposed by the fishing industry out of concern that it could imperil salmon stocks in the prolific Bristol Bay fishery, the major driver of the state’s sockeye supply. That passion was on full display at the press conference held to mark the filing of a lawsuit against the US Environmental Protection Agency over its decision to withdraw protections implemented in 2014 under the Clean Water Act that could have posed a hurdle to the proposed mine.
In response to a reporter’s question about the cost of of the federal lawsuit, the plaintiffs — the Bristol Bay Native Association, the Bristol Bay Economic Development Corporation, United Tribes of Bristol Bay, the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association and the Bristol Bay Reserve Association — spoke of the cost of inaction rather than detail a dollar figure.