Saving Seafood

Alaska Republicans open to EPA Pebble mine veto

May 27, 2022 — The Biden administration’s move to veto the contentious Pebble gold and copper mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay watershed may soothe the state’s Republican senators who in the past have pushed back against federal intervention.

GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan said he and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, both staunch supporters of mining in Alaska, are still digesting the agency’s proposal to impose a Clean Water Act veto against mining in the watershed (Greenwire, May 25).

Sullivan suggested his opposition to federal intervention could be muted if EPA’s decision was based on Pebble LP’s most recent proposal. When the Obama administration tried to veto the project, the company had yet to enter the permitting process. The agency used a watershed assessment and publicly available information about the company’s intentions.

Indeed, Sullivan told E&E News his past opposition was based on EPA moving forward with a “preemptive veto.” In 2014, he said, there was “kind of a vague declaration that the EPA had the power to veto any project on state of Alaska land, that they deem vetoable.”

“Most people, myself included, and the whole Alaskan delegation, were vehemently opposed to that, because they didn’t have the legal authority to do it,” said Sullivan. “If this is based on the project, not the 2014 watershed assessment, it’s very different.”

Read the full story at E&E News

ALASKA: EPA proposes protections for world’s biggest sockeye salmon fishery

May 26, 2022 — The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it will protect waters in Alaska that are home to one of the world’s biggest salmon spawning grounds, the culmination of a long-running dispute that pitted Alaska Natives against mining interests.

The proposal from the Environmental Protection Agency is a potentially fatal blow to a plan to mine in the Bristol Bay watershed for gold, copper and other valuable metals.

Bristol Bay, which sustains an annual run of 37.5 million sockeye salmon, helps support a $2 billion commercial fishing industry as well as a way of life for Alaska Natives, who have vigorously opposed the construction of the Pebble Mine.

The EPA’s action, if finalized, may finally put an end to a more than decade-long legal and political tussle over the fate of this corner of southern Alaska as President Biden strives to protect a greater share of the nation’s wilderness.

Read the full story at The Washington Post

EPA proposes restrictions in fight over Alaska mine

May 26, 2022 — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday proposed restrictions that would block plans for a copper and gold mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay region, the latest in a long-running dispute over efforts by developers to advance the mine in a region known for its salmon runs.

Critics of the Pebble Mine project called the move an important step in a years-long fight to stop the mine. But John Shively, the CEO of the Pebble Limited Partnership, which is pursuing the mine, called EPA’s proposal a “political maneuver” and a preemptive effort to veto the project.

The EPA in a statement said the proposal would bar discharges of dredged or fill material into the waters of the U.S. within the mine site footprint proposed by the Pebble partnership.

The federal agency said it took into account information that has become available since it previously proposed restricting development in 2014, including new scientific analyses and a mine plan from the Pebble partnership that was submitted to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as part of a permit application.

 Read the full story from the AP

Biden EPA deals major blow to Pebble mine

May 26, 2022 — EPA today proposed a ban on mining in Alaska’s renowned Bristol Bay watershed, seemingly closing the door on a long-sought-after copper mine project and protecting one of the world’s premier salmon fisheries.

The Clean Water Act veto would likely spell the end to Pebble LP’s mine proposal. EPA says the mine would destroy nearly 100 miles of protected stream habitat and more than 2,000 acres of wetlands and federally protected waters. The harm from digging for copper and gold would also “reverberate downstream,” damaging other fish habitats, the agency says.

It’s a victory for the lawmakers, tribes, commercial anglers and conservation groups that fought for President Joe Biden to undo an EPA move during the Trump administration to tear apart a previous veto of the mine. Support for protecting Bristol Bay has been bipartisan, with Donald Trump Jr. and Fox News host Tucker Carlson pushing the Trump administration to revive the veto (Greenwire, Aug. 24, 2020).

“Today’s announcement is an important step toward protecting Bristol Bay from the Pebble Mine for good and we hope EPA will move quickly to finalize the 404(c) Clean Water Act process to enact durable, long-lasting protections for the region, as we have requested, as soon as possible,” said Katherine Carscallen, director of Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay, which issued a joint statement in support of the veto with the United Tribes of Bristol Bay, SalmonState and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

While the proposed Pebble veto would be a victory for environmentalists, it also arrives as Biden and congressional Democrats are trying to thread the needle between environmental stewardship and supporting the mining needed to supply electric vehicle manufacturing and renewable energy projects (Climatewire, April 19).

Pebble is only the latest of multiple large copper mines to be delayed or blocked under Biden, after the Twin Metals mine in Minnesota and the Resolution copper mine in Arizona (Greenwire, Jan. 26).

Read the full story at E&E News

 

ALASKA: Anti-Pebble super PAC will support candidates against the proposed mine

April 20, 2022 — A new super PAC that has amassed $600,000 from a single group says it will back federal candidates who support protections for Bristol Bay and who oppose the proposed Pebble mine project in Southwest Alaska.

Alaskans for Bristol Bay Action said Monday that it will focus on additional fundraising to support candidates in the upcoming election cycle.

Former Alaska Senate President Rick Halford, a Republican and longtime opponent of the proposed mine, is senior adviser for the new political action committee.

The committee was created in February, according to the Federal Elections Commission.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

ALASKA: Fishermen discouraged by EPA’s delayed timeline to protect Bristol Bay salmon fishery

January 31, 2022 — The Environmental Protection Agency released a letter On January 27th signaling a change in its original timeline to put Clean Water Act protections in place for Bristol Bay.

Their letter indicates that the EPA will issue a revised Clean Water Act Section 404(c) Proposed Determination for Alaska’s Bristol Bay watershed by May 31, 2022, meaning that a potential comment period could occur while Bristol Bay’s commercial fishermen and residents are out fishing and offline at remote fishing camps.

In response to the EPA’s letter, Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay’s Executive Director, Katherine Carscallen issued the following statement:

“Bristol Bay’s fishermen are deeply concerned by news from the EPA that they do not intend to protect Bristol Bay by the time we head out for another fishing season. We’ve been calling on EPA to finalize its proposed Clean Water Act protections for a decade.  Now, in spite of President Biden’s commitment in August 2020 to stop the Pebble Mine and despite a decade of science supporting Clean Water Act protections, we are yet again asked to wait,” the release stated.

Read the full story at KINY

Rally on Rewind: Pebble Mine fight carries on

January 26, 2022 — Eight years ago this week, representatives of Bristol Bay Tribes, commercial fishermen, seafood processors, Pacific Northwest and Alaska fisheries, local chefs, and other stakeholders convened in Seattle for a rally to urge the U.S. EPA to veto Pebble Mine.

Most of us are well aware of the fact that the fight to stop the construction of this mine at the headwaters of Bristol Bay’s world-famous and unparalleled salmon streams has been ongoing for more than two decades.

This anniversary of the rally, organizers say, is the perfect time to remember that permanent protections are the only solution that will end this fight.

“I am tired of being held hostage by the cloud that this type of development has settled over our region. I am tired of watching my friends and family wonder: If this happens, how will we feed our children? How will our culture survive?” said Alannah Hurley, executive director of the United Tribes of Bristol Bay, at the rally on Jan. 23, 2014. “The people of Bristol Bay are sick and tired of the uncertain fate of our watershed that has fed the hearts and souls of our people for thousands of years.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Pebble mine developer does away with Washington lobbyists

January 25, 2022 — The company behind the proposed Pebble mine in Alaska has been saying goodbye — for now — to its lobbyists in Washington.

Pebble LP once had a large team of lobbyists fighting to guarantee development of an enormous copper and gold development near southwest Alaska’s Bristol Bay, home to the nation’s strongest salmon fishery.

That was before the company lost a key fight during the Trump administration, when the Army Corps of Engineers in 2020 rejected Pebble’s application to build the mine. And the Biden administration has since restarted a Clean Water Act veto process that could prevent any large-scale mining near Bristol Bay (Greenwire, Sept. 9, 2021).

Pebble didn’t lobby Congress or agencies on any issues during the last six months of last year and spent no money on federal lobbying efforts during that period, according to disclosures filed last week by firms the company had retained.

In the last year, Pebble has terminated contracts with BGR Government Affairs, Ballard Partners, Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, and Windward Strategies, disclosures show. Some big names were representing Pebble through those firms, including former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) at BGR and Brian Ballard, a major ally and fundraiser for former President Trump.

Read the full story at E&E News

New court ruling clears path for Bristol Bay Clean Water Act protections

November 1, 2021 — Bristol Bay fishing advocates say a federal court ruling Friday enables the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to restart a process to protect the bay watershed from plans to develop the Pebble Mine under the federal Clean Water Act.

The order by U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason in Anchorage came in response to a recent motion by the Pebble Limited Partnership and state of Alaska, asking the court to set a schedule for the EPA to either withdraw or finalize a 2014 proposal during the Obama administration that would have restricted mining and waste disposal.

Ruling in favor of the groups Trout Unlimited and SalmonState that filed as intervenors in the case, Gleason in her order stated “neither the retention of jurisdiction pending remand nor the establishment of an administrative timetable by the Court is warranted in this case,” remanding the matter to the EPA for action.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Biden administration moves to protect key Alaska watershed

September 10, 2021 — The Biden administration said on Thursday it will relaunch a process that could permanently protect a vital Alaskan watershed from development of the contentious Pebble Mine project that has been pursued for more than a decade.

The Department of Justice asked in an Alaska federal district court filing that the court vacate a 2019 decision by the Trump-era Environmental Protection Agency to remove protection of the Bristol Bay watershed.

If the court grants the request, it would automatically reinstate the EPA’s Clean Water Act Section 404 review process. The agency could then resume an effort to protect certain waters in the Bristol Bay watershed, whose streams, wetlands, lakes and ponds are home to North America’s most productive salmon fisheries of five types of salmon: coho, Chinook, sockeye, chum and pink.

Read the full story at Reuters