Biden administration announces effort to stop Pebble copper and gold mine from being built
May 26—The Environmental Protection Agency has announced that it will renew its effort to prevent construction of the Pebble copper and gold mine, an action that Pebble critics have long sought as a possible fatal blow to the project.
The federal agency said Wednesday that it would issue a proposal to ban the project from disposing of dredged or fill material into streams or wetlands — an action that, if finalized, could prevent the mine from ever being built.
The proposed action is open for public comment through July 5 before it can be finalized. It's the latest move in the back-and-forth saga over the Pebble prospect that has played out for decades.
The vast mineral deposit is located on state land, near headwaters of the world's most valuable salmon fishery, about 200 miles southwest of Anchorage.
The Pebble Limited Partnership project, in the works for two decades, has been the source of multiple lawsuits and strong opposition, and has seen shifting political winds amid changing presidents and governors, as well as leaked videotapes that in 2020 led to a Pebble chief executive's resignation.
The EPA's new proposal hearkens back to its effort in 2014 to preliminarily "veto" the mine before companies could submit a project plan to another federal agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for a construction permit.
Tribal groups and commercial and subsistence fishermen from the Bristol Bay region, concerned that the mine would destroy a salmon fishery now valued at more than $2 billion annually, played an instrumental role in that EPA effort. Pebble Limited has fought them at every turn, in support of a deposit valued in the hundreds of billions of dollars, if extraction is allowed.
But that EPA proposal was never finalized, after mine developer Pebble Limited Partnership successfully sued the agency. Later, the development effort temporarily gained steam under President Donald Trump, until the Corps rejected a permit for the project in the final months of Trump's leadership. Pebble has appealed that rejected permit.
The EPA said its newest proposal is based on decades of information, with current information based on the 2020 development plan from Pebble now included. Its prohibition will apply not only to Pebble, but also to any future mine proposed for the deposit. The agency said it found that the mine's negative impacts to the Bristol Bay watershed include the permanent loss of 8.5 miles of streams, displacing or killing salmon.
Pebble Limited Partnership decried the renewed EPA effort in a statement Wednesday.
"This is clearly a giant step backwards for the Biden Administration's climate change goals," said John Shively, chief executive of Pebble Limited. "I find it ironic that the President is using the Defense Production Act to get more renewable energy minerals such as copper into production while others in the Administration seek political ways to stop domestic mining projects such as ours."
Multiple Native and tribal groups from the Bristol Bay region praised the decision. That included the Bristol Bay Native Corp., the local Alaska Native regional corporation and one of the biggest companies in the state.
"This proposal is good news for Bristol Bay, and it could not come at a more opportune time, as millions of sockeye salmon return to their home waters and the people of the region ready their nets to once again engage in annual subsistence and commercial fishing activities," said Jason Metrokin, chief executive for the corporation.
The company looks forward to the EPA this new decision by the end of the year, Metrokin said.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
