Saving Seafood

ALASKA: Why biologists fear Pebble could risk Bristol Bay salmon’s resilience

August 3, 2020 — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ final environmental review of Pebble says that under normal operations, it does not expect the mine to have a significant effect on fish populations in Bristol Bay. But the Corps does say the mine would harm fish around the mine site. Some scientists say the project could also put a specific salmon population in the Koktuli River at risk and remove genetic diversity from the region.

The mine would be built at the headwaters of the Koktuli River drainage, and it would eliminate about 20% of available habitat there, though the Corps says that does not necessarily represent fish habitat.

Daniel Schindler has spent decades studying salmon in the Bristol Bay watershed. He’s a professor of fisheries sciences at the University of Washington

“If you looked at the Koktuli all by itself, and you assumed that all sockeye salmon are interchangeable across all of Bristol Bay, then you would say that the Koktuli River is a very small piece of habitat, and it’s not that important,” he said.

According to Schindler, the variety of different life strategies and genetic identities of sockeye throughout Bristol Bay ultimately stabilizes the returns of fish back to the rivers every year.

Read the full story at KTOO

Trump administration signals controversial mine can move ahead, reversing Obama-era position

July 27, 2020 — A controversial gold and copper mine proposed in Alaska was given a major push forward Friday as the Trump administration issued a final report concluding the Pebble Mine project would not cause long-term harm to one of the world’s largest remaining salmon runs.

The new report, by the Army Corps of Engineers, is a sharp reversal to the Obama administration Environmental Protection Agency’s conclusions of the project, which essentially blocked progress on the mine because of environmental concerns by citing the potential for permanent damage to the pristine Bristol Bay watershed.

The Pebble Mine project has been a lightning rod for controversy for some two decades and has been widely assailed by numerous interest groups in Alaska and the lower states, and also faced opposition from many Alaskans.

The new report by the Army Corps is a major triumph for the project developers, illustrating the Trump administration’s opposite approach to the project from the Obama administration and echoing other large environmental reversals it has ordered on other findings from the previous administration.

Perhaps the new report’s most striking finding is that the colossal mine and its development “would not be expected to have a measurable effect on fish numbers and result in long-term changes to the health of the commercial fisheries in Bristol Bay.”

Read the full story at CNN

ALASKA: Controversial Pebble Mine gets approval from US Army Corps of Engineers

July 24, 2020 — The controversial Pebble Mine, proposed for a location near the headwaters that feed the Bristol Bay, Alaska, sockeye fishery, has received its final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

SalmonState, an advocate for salmon fisheries in Alaska, has called the new impact statement a “rubber stamp” that is largely the same as the initial draft of the EIS. Opposition to the Pebble Mine from fishermen, environmentalists, and tribal representatives has been ongoing for more than a decade, and was renewed in 2017 when mining conglomerate Pebble Limited Partnership applied for a permit for an open pit copper, gold, and molybdenum mine.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

ALASKA: After decades, a decision nears on the Pebble mine

July 16, 2020 — The proposed Pebble mine near Bristol Bay is nearing a landmark decision that could set the stage for the project’s approval, decades after developers first started considering the project.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said a final environmental impact statement is scheduled to be released a week from Friday.

The document, a review of the mine’s potential impacts on nearby land and rivers, could mean a final decision in late August for the federal agency to permit the controversial project.

The Corps will hold a call with reporters on Monday to “set expectations for the release of the (final environmental impact statement) on July 24,” said John Budnik, a spokesman with the Corps.

“This will mark one of the most significant milestones for the Pebble Project,” said Tom Collier, chief executive of Pebble Limited Partnership, in a prepared statement.

The developer released the statement on Wednesday highlighting the Corps’ timeline.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

Alaska salmon: Bristol Bay opens with Pebble Mine decision pending

June 30, 2020 — The biggest red salmon run in the world is building at Bristol Bay.

Up to 50 million fish could surge into its eight river systems in coming weeks, on par with past seasons. When it’s all done, the fishery will provide nearly half the global supply of wild sockeye salmon.

But this summer is different.

Beyond the restrictions and fears and economic chaos caused by covid-19, fishermen are waiting to learn if the development of a massive gold and copper mine that’s been hanging over their heads for two decades will get a greenlight from the federal government. The news is expected to come at the height of the summer season.

In mid-July, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is expected to unveil its federal record of decision on the permit application by Northern Dynasty of Vancouver, Canada, to build the Pebble Mine at the sprawling mosaic of headwaters that provide the spawning and rearing grounds for the region’s salmon.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Pebble offers to pay annual dividend to residents of Bristol Bay, hotbed of opposition to Pebble’s mine

June 19, 2020 — The proposed Pebble Mine has always faced fierce opposition in Bristol Bay. Now, Pebble is offering to pay every adult resident of the area an annual dividend.

Pebble Chief Executive Tom Collier says he wants to share the benefits of the mine with the region, even before the mine delivers its first load of ore. Pebble says it will pay at least $3 million a year in dividends, divided among those who register to receive it.

“(If) 3,000 sign up, it’ll be $1,000 a year,” Collier said. “And as the project becomes profitable, it will be much more than that.”

Collier says he’s making good on a commitment he made to the region.

Read the full story at KTOO

Pebble mine developer launches plan to share profits with local residents

June 17, 2020 — The developer of the controversial proposed Pebble mine in Southwest Alaska launched a profit-sharing plan for residents from the Bristol Bay region on Tuesday, drawing condemnation from an Alaska Native corporation opposed to the project.

The Pebble Performance Dividend will share 3% of the net profits from the copper, gold and molybdenum mine, Pebble Limited Partnership said in a statement on Tuesday.

The mine won’t make a profit during its initial years of construction, but Pebble pledged to provide $3 million annually during that period to ensure a dividend. Under that plan, if 3,000 residents applied for the program, each would receive $1,000 once construction starts, the company said.

“Developing a mine at Pebble will provide jobs, economic activity, local tax revenue and infrastructure,” said Tom Collier, Pebble chief executive.

The program will provide one more way local residents can benefit, he said.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers could permit the Pebble mine this summer. If permitted, the open-pit mine would be about 200 miles southwest of Anchorage, near salmon-producing headwaters of the valuable Bristol Bay fishery.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

Alaska’s Controversial Pebble Mine Was Dead. Not Anymore.

May 28, 2020 — The Bristol Bay region in southwest Alaska is home to the world’s largest sockeye salmon run, a resource that brings in $1.5 billion annually and provides a vital food source for thousands of Alaska Native residents who live there.

It’s also home to a vast copper and gold deposit worth an estimated $500 billion, known as the Pebble Deposit. A plan to extract that wealth by building a massive open pit mine at the heart of the environmentally sensitive Bristol Bay watershed has become the environmental fight of the century for Alaska.

FRONTLINE told that story in Alaska Gold, broadcast in 2012, when the mine’s opponents seemed to have won the day.

But the Pebble mine got a new lease on life under the Trump administration, and in late 2017, the Pebble Partnership, the company behind the mine, filed for a permit with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Read the full story at Frontline

Opponents lose court case against Alaska mine near fishery

April 21, 2020 — Opponents have lost a court case against the proposed copper and gold mine near a major salmon fishery in Alaska’s Bristol Bay region.

U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason ruled the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency could withdraw a “proposed determination” about potential negative mine impacts dating from 2014, Alaska Public Media reported Sunday.

The determination had concluded the mining project, named the Pebble Mine, posed too great a threat to the salmon-rich waters of Bristol Bay.

The judge’s ruling was based on the amount of latitude government agencies have and what is subject to legal review, rather than the merits or dangers of the mine.

The case focused on a “preemptive veto” the EPA issued during the administration of President Barack Obama, before Pebble Limited Partnership filed an application for the mine in Southwest Alaska.

The mine’s federal permit application is pending with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the EPA retains the right to veto the permit, a power that was not diminished by Friday’s ruling.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Seattle Times

Long road to relief: Mississippi oystermen slated for $1 million in disaster checks

February 21, 2020 — Oysters are having a moment, if you haven’t noticed. Even small towns are getting oyster bars, and national demand has skyrocketed.

But down on the Gulf Coast, oystermen (and blue crab fishermen) have spent the last decade struggling to stay afloat in the face of massive freshwater runoff events when the Army Corps of Engineers opens the Bonnet Carré Spillway to spare New Orleans infrastructure from floodwaters.

“The spillway openings had a devastating effect on our fisheries in 2011, 2016, 2018, and two in 2019,” says Ryan Bradley, executive director of Mississippi Commercial Fisheries United and a 2018 NF Highliner. “And the only time disasters were declared was 2011 and now 2019.”

A freshwater spillover shocks nearshore oyster stocks with a sudden and deadly change in salinity. That water quality change also affects young crab. Fisheries advocates were able to win a congressional disaster declaration for the 2011 losses to the oyster and blue crab fisheries.

Read the full story at National Fisherman