U.S. discards controversial Alaska Pebble gold project
The Pebble gold mine in Alaska was dealt a potentially lethal blow after the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers rejected a permit for the project Wednesday.
The proposed mine in southwestern Alaska, which would tap one of the world’s largest undeveloped copper and gold deposits, has been dogged by protests for years, as conservationists warn industrial mining operations near Bristol Bay threaten a flourishing sockeye salmon fishery.
The Army Corps issued a record of decision denying Pebble’s permit, after determining the project “is contrary to the public interest,” said Col. Damon Delarosa, the agency’s Alaska district commander.
In August, the Army Corps concluded the mining plan from Vancouver- based Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. “would likely result in significant degradation of the environment,” and the agency demanded a mitigation plan to offset the project’s effects on nearby wetlands. Northern Dynasty’s subsidiary Pebble Limited Partnership submitted the mitigation plan earlier this month, though the details weren’t released to the public.
“One of the real tragedies of this decision is the loss of economic opportunities for people living in the area,” Pebble Partnership head John Shively said in a statement. “A politically driven decision has taken away the hope that many had for a better life.”
The company said it is considering appealing the Corps’ decision. Developers may still have a limited opportunity to appeal the decision administratively; they also can challenge the rejection in federal court.
Delarosa said the Army Corps’ decision was “based on all available facts and complies with existing laws and regulations,” following “an in-depth analysis” of the project and roughly three years of review.
Pebble is in a remote area in southwestern Alaska that drains into Bristol Bay. Conservationists, local activists and fishing operations have fought the project for years, citing potential impacts on the environment and native cultures in the region. More recently, Pebble has drawn opposition from prominent Republicans including the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., and skepticism from some prominent local politicians.
If developed, the mine would be one of the largest producers of both copper and gold in the U. S., according to a recent presentation by Northern Dynasty, potentially producing an average of about 318 million pounds of copper, 1.8 million ounces of silver and 362,000 ounces of gold annually over a 20-year mine life.
Tim Bristol, executive director of Salmonstate, a group dedicated to protecting Alaska’s salmon habitat, heralded the move Wednesday.
“Sometimes a project is so bad, so indefensible, that the politics fall to the wayside and we get the right decision,” Bristol said.
Northern Dynasty’s U. S. shares plunged as much as 56 per cent, the most since trading began in 1996, and were down 50 per cent as of late afternoon in New York.
“How many other projects are strongly opposed by both Alaskan senators, by 80 per cent of the people that live in the region, by commercial fishermen, by recreational fishermen, by Donald Trump Jr., and by Jane Fonda?” said Joel Reynolds, a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council. “It’s astonishing the range of opposition, and that, I think, puts it in a unique category. This project really has no friends, other than a Canadian company and its shareholders.”
The fate of the project took a further public- relations blow in September after the release of covertly taped comments revealed a top mining executive boasting of his ties to state and federal leaders. The so-called Pebble Tapes incensed the project’s critics and led to the resignation of Pebble head Tom Collier.
Regardless of the Army Corps’ verdict, conservationists are pressing the Environmental Protection Agency to even more definitively kill the proposed mine, by wielding its broad authority under the Clean Water Act to veto projects involving the discharge of dredged material. President- elect Joe Biden has promised to block the project, calling the area “no place for a mine” and noting the government reached the same conclusion while he was vice president.
Salmonstate’s Bristol said the EPA action is vital. “The critical next step is to reestablish the Clean Water Act protections for America’s greatest salmon fishery — protections that should have never been done away with in the first place,” Bristol said by email. “This can and should be an early priority for the Biden administration.”