Alaskans speak up as the Pebble Mine shows new life.

The Pebble Mine is unfortunately gaining renewed momentum. Northern Dynasty, the would-be developers of the mine slated for Bristol Bay have told investors and news media that the Trump Administration “desires to see Pebble permitted.”

Wild Salmon Center is committed to protecting Bristol Bay for Alaskans, who overwhelmingly oppose the stalled mine, proposed for the headwaters of the Nushagak and Kvichak rivers in the Bristol Bay region – the most productive salmon ecosystem in the world. If constructed, Pebble would be the world’s second largest open pit copper, gold, molybdenum mine and include the world’s largest earthen dam, to hold back 10 billion tons of toxic tailings and contaminated water. The mine and tailings lake would sit just north of Lake Iliamna.

In 2014 the Environmental Protection Agency officially initiated the Clean Water Act 404(c) process to protect Bristol Bay, estimating that the Pebble Mine footprint alone will destroy up to 94 miles of salmon-bearing streams. But the new administration could reverse the ruling and allow for the mine to move forward.

We stand with local partners to ensure that the mine is not built in the headwaters of the earth’s greatest sockeye run — home to a $1.5 billion fishing industry and some of the best sportfishing in the world.

Alaskans are once again speaking out against the mine, to remind Northern Dynasty and policy makers what is at stake, as seen in this opinion piece in Alaska Dispatch News  by Bristol Bay lodge owner Brian Kraft. Read it here. 

Stay tuned for more news in the coming weeks, as the movement to protect Bristol Bay fires up its engines once again.