On Wednesday, Army Corps Engineers engineers denied permission for a proposed pebble mine in Alaska, killing a long-disputed project aimed at extracting possibly one of the world’s largest deposits of copper and gold ore, but which endangers the breeding sector. Originally in Bristol Bay for S.Lman.
The battle over the future of this mine has been going on for more than a decade. The plan was announced years ago under the Obama administration, only to find new life under President Trump. But opposition from Alaska’s Native American communities, environmentalists and the fishing industry has never waned, and more recently the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., who used to fish in the area, came out against the project.
On Wednesday, it failed to obtain the required critical permission under the Federal Clean Water Act, which it deemed necessary to proceed. In a statement, the Alaska District Commander of the Army Corps, Col. Damon DeLrossa said the proposed mine for a remote tundra area 200 miles from Anchorage would be “against the public interest” because it “does not comply with the Clean Water Act guidelines.”
Opponents say the massive open-pit operation, which will dig and process millions of tons of rock a year, will irreparably damage the breeding grounds for process lmon, the game-fishing industry and a major commercial fishing base in Bristol Bay. . Salmon is the staple food of Alaskanis who live in small villages in the region.
Chris Wood, chief executive of the defense group Trout Unlimited, said denying a permit for a pebble mine was a victory for common sense. “Bristol Bay is the wrong place for industrial scale mining on an industrial scale.”
Lindsay Leyland, deputy director of United Tribes in Bristol Bay, who has been fighting the project for years, said the decision meant the project could die, but there were still threats that gold and copper ore could still be mined in the future. “That doesn’t mean those minerals won’t be in the soil tomorrow,” he said. “We need to keep pushing for long-term and permanent protection on the road.”
In a statement, John Shiveli, interim chief executive of the project’s developer, Pebble Limited Partnership, said the partnership would “focus on shunting the next steps for the project, including appealing the decision.”
Mr Shiveli described the corps’ actions as “politically motivated”, noting that the corps had approved an environmental impact statement earlier this year, stating that “the project successfully coexists with fishing and has significant economic potential.” Will provide. Benefits
The environmental impact statement was finalized by the corp in July, which had the right to approve or deny permission under the Federal Clean Water Act. But a few weeks later the corps said the company’s plan to compensate for environmental damage from the mine was inadequate, and requested a new plan.
The new plan, which was not made public, but is supposed to protect land near the mine permanently, was unveiled last week.
Many officials in the mining industry and the state have supported the project for revenue and other economic benefits. But some important Alaskan politicians, especially Senator Lisa J. Murkowski, a Republican, said the mine should only move forward if it was properly shown to the environment.
In a statement Wednesday, Senator Murkowski said the corps’ decision confirms that “this is the wrong mine in the wrong place.”
“This is the right decision, the right one,” he added.
Under the Trump administration, the Environmental Protection Agency reversed an earlier ruling that allowed the corps to proceed with an environmental review. Under the Clean Water Act, the corps reviews any dredging and filling activities in waterways, including wetlands, such as the proposed project area.
Support for the mine among Republicans has never been ironclad as it has been with potential environmental consequences for several other projects, particularly in the Arctic National Wildlife Sanctuary, especially in potential oil and gas drilling, even in Alaska. And many Democrats were fiercely opposed.
Senator Maria Cantwell, the biggest congressional critic of the project and a Washington Democrat, praised the corps’ decision. “But denying permission does not mean that Bristol Bay is protected from the dangers of gravel mining,” added Senator Cantwell, adding that President-elect Joseph R. The coming administration of Biden Jr. should make it a priority to establish a permanent defense. Bristol for two fishing.
The Pebble project also sparked a rare controversy in the Trump family. In August Gust, Donald Trump Jr., a sports enthusiast fishing in the Bristol Bay area, tweeted his protest against the mine: # PubMine”
When President Trump was asked in the days following his son’s sentiments and prospects for the project, he simply said he would “look at both sides” of the issue and that politics would not play a role in any decision. Privately, however, administrative officials said they expected the permit to be approved.
But in September, the future of the millionaire dollar project became doubtful when secret recordings from company officials indicated they were considering a much larger mine, and that the corps would operate longer than had been notified.
The recordings were obtained by an environmental advocacy group, including two members who were introduced as potential investors in a project meeting via video with two project executives. Officials said how the mine could run 160 years or more beyond the proposed 20 years and how its production could double after the first two decades.
As a result of the recordings, Pebble Partnership’s chief executive, Tom Collier, resigned.
