Saving Seafood

ALASKA: Sen. Sullivan says ‘No Pebble mine’ following release of secretly recorded videos of company executives and criticism by Gross

September 25, 2020 — Alaska Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan cemented his opposition to the Pebble mine on Thursday after secret recordings were released of the project’s now-former CEO and another executive describing their relationship with Sullivan and other Alaska politicians.

“Given the lies of Pebble’s leadership, the record needs to be set straight,” Sullivan said in a three-part Twitter post on Thursday afternoon.

The recordings were quickly used by Sullivan’s Senate challenger, Al Gross, in an ad accusing Sullivan of hiding his support for the mine from the public. Gross called for Sullivan to return campaign contributions from Pebble executives.

The series of Twitter posts by Sullivan included the long version of Sullivan’s views on Pebble, returning to his late August statement when he said a federal permit cannot be issued for the mine.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

Executive leaves mine project amid recorded comment fallout

September 24, 2020 — The man helping lead efforts to develop a copper and gold mine near the headwaters of a major salmon fishery in Alaska has resigned following the release of recorded comments in which he “embellished” relationships with elected and regulatory officials, Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. said Wednesday.

Tom Collier served as CEO for the Pebble Limited Partnership, which is owned by Canada-based Northern Dynasty and is seeking a key federal permit for the proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay region, which supports the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery. Collier’s resignation is effective immediately, Pebble spokesperson Mike Heatwole said by email.

The resignation letter was not released. Heatwole called it “a private matter between employer and employee.”

John Shively, a former Pebble partnership CEO, will act as interim CEO, Northern Dynasty said. Efforts to reach Collier weren’t immediately successful Wednesday.

Read the full story at the Associated Press

Pebble CEO resigns after scandal caused by secret recordings

September 24, 2020 — The Pebble Partnership’s CEO Tom Collier has resigned in the fallout of secretly recorded videos that were posted online Monday, 21 September.

Parent company Northern Dynasty Minerals published a statement announcing that John Shively will step back into the role of CEO for the partnership on an interim basis. Shively has been serving as chairman of the board for Pebble since 2014, when he handed off the title of CEO to Collier.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

ALASKA: In recordings, Pebble executives discuss influence with Gov. Mike Dunleavy and one day expanding the mine

September 22, 2020 — An environmental group released videos on Monday of Pebble mine executives privately discussing their pull with Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy and other Alaska political leaders and the huge potential for expansion at the controversial Southwest Alaska copper and gold prospect.

The recordings, made by a Washington, D.C. group, the Environmental Investigation Agency, underscore longstanding criticisms by mine opponents about Pebble Limited’s political influence in Alaska and the White House.

The group hired people to pose as potential investors interested in the mine’s long-term prospects during video calls with the Pebble officials in August and September 2020, according to a written statement from the group.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

ALASKA: Secret recordings of Pebble Mine executives reveal plans for larger mine than proposed

September 22, 2020 — Two executives with the company seeking to develop an open-pit gold and copper mine in Bristol Bay, Alaska, said they expect the project to grow much larger in size than the proposal currently under final review by the Army Corps of Engineers.

Northern Dynasty Minerals CEO Ronald Thiessen and Pebble Limited Partnership CEO Tom Collier told members of an environmental advocacy group posing as potential investors that the mine could operate for much longer than currently proposed, and could expand to other areas where the partnership owns mineral rights.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

An Alaska Mine Project Might Be Bigger Than Acknowledged

September 21, 2020 — Executives overseeing the development of a long-disputed copper and gold mine in Alaska were recorded saying they expected the project to become much bigger, and operate for much longer, than outlined in the proposal that is awaiting final approval by the Army Corps of Engineers.

The executives, who were recorded in remote meetings by members of an environmental advocacy group posing as potential investors, said the project, Pebble Mine, could potentially operate for 160 years or more beyond the current proposal of 20 years. And it could quickly double its output after the initial two decades, they said.

“Once you have something like this in production why would you want to stop?” Ronald W. Thiessen, chief executive of Northern Dynasty Minerals, the parent company of Pebble Limited Partnership, said in one of the recordings. Mr. Thiessen said local villages in the area would support extended operation of the mine because of the tax money they would receive. “It’s $10,000 per man, woman and child,” he said. “They want that to go away? No.”

Read the full story at The New York Times

Trump tweet promising ‘NO POLITICS’ in Pebble mine decision echoes ad on Fox News paid for by developer

September 18, 2020 — A television ad on Fox News from the developer of the Pebble copper and gold mine in Southwest Alaska seems to have gotten the ear of President Donald Trump, who on Wednesday tweeted that politics will not play a role in whether the mine is permitted.

“Don’t worry, wonderful & beautiful Alaska, there will be NO POLITICS in the Pebble Mine Review Process. I will do what is right for Alaska and our great Country!!!” the president tweeted.

Tom Collier, chief executive of Pebble Limited, said the company decided to run the ads on Fox to reach the administration and remind officials of the president’s policy of keeping politics out of permitting procedures.

The ad features former President Barack Obama, a favorite target of Trump, when it says that the Obama administration attempted to halt the project after putting “politics over policy.”

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

Trump says to be ‘no politics’ in Alaska mine project review

September 17, 2020 — U.S. President Donald Trump said there would be “no politics” in the review process of Alaska’s Pebble Mine project which has previously been opposed by prominent Republicans and environmentalists who say it would damage wetlands and popular fishing sites.

“Don’t worry, wonderful & beautiful Alaska, there will be NO POLITICS in the Pebble Mine Review Process. I will do what is right for Alaska and our great Country!!!,” Trump said in a tweet late on Wednesday.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the federal agency that regulates the development and dredging of wetlands, had last month placed an additional hurdle in front of the project to mine copper and gold, giving developers 90 days to explain how they would offset concerns about the environment.

Read the full story at Reuters

32 members of US Congress call for veto of Alaska’s Pebble Mine permit application

September 8, 2020 — A group of 32 members of the U.S. Congress have asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to veto permits for Bristol Bay, Alaska’s Pebble Mine, a proposed open-pit copper and gold mine at headwaters that feed part of the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery.

U.S. Representative Jared Huffman (D-California) and U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Oregon) led the letter to EPA Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler, whose agency holds the power veto the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers’ Final Draft Environmental Impact Statement, a document that has been criticized as rushed and incomplete.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

A Rare Salmon Type Is in the Crosshairs of Alaska’s Proposed Pebble Mine

August 31, 2020 — The sockeye salmon that come from the Koktuli River aren’t like most other fish in Alaska’s Bristol Bay, where a thriving fishery provides nearly half of the world’s wild sockeye. These salmon represent a rare class of sockeye with unique genes and a singular life strategy that sets them apart from the millions of fish that spawn in the rivers and streams that feed into Bristol Bay. Now, Koktuli River sockeye are in the spotlight because the Pebble Mine, a copper and gold mine proposed for southwest Alaska, is slated for the water in which they live.

On Monday, August 24, the latest development arrived in the long and controversial story of the Pebble Mine. The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the agency in charge of permitting the mine, posted a letter officially informing the project’s developer, Pebble Limited Partnership (PLP), that the open-pit mine, as proposed, would “cause unavoidable adverse impacts” to the surrounding watershed, resulting in “significant degradation.”

That determination would be a death knell for the project per the Clean Water Act—unless the company takes appropriate steps to mitigate or offset the damage it will cause to more than 1,300 hectares of wetlands and nearly 300 kilometers of streams, most of which lie within the Koktuli River watershed. In recent weeks, prominent Republicans, including President Trump’s oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., and Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson, have voiced opposition to the mine, feeding speculation ahead of Monday’s letter that the administration might block or delay the project.

Read the full story at Hakai Magazine