Another twist in the Pebble Mine debate

There’s a new twist in the fight against Pebble.

Opponents are now working in Washington, D.C. to defund the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’s work on federal permits for the big project.

The U.S. House of Representatives, led by Democrats, took action Monday to stop the Army Corps from issuing a permit for the proposed Pebble Mine in response to the highly scrutinized environmental review and unprecedented short timeline.

The amendment to the minibus appropriations bill (H.R. 7617) prevents the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from using its funding to publish a Record of Decision. That ROD and Clean Water Act permit is expected this fall. Last week, the Army Corps published the project’s Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)

Bristol Bay tribes, who oppose the mine, celebrated the news that the acted to stop the preparation of a Record of Decision that would approve key elements of the proposal. Opponents of the mine condemned the FEIS as lacking in its consideration of the impacts the mine would have on the lands, waters, peoples, fisheries, and existing economy of the region. The amendment to stop this rushed process was sponsored by Reps. Huffman (CA), DeFazio (OR), Speier (CA), Levin (CA) and Rouda (CA).

“Quyana and chin’an to the members of Congress who voted to defend Bristol Bay today,” said UTBB Executive Director Alannah Hurley. “It’s clear that Pebble has not met any standards in a normal NEPA process and ignored the directive that came from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle last year when they called on the Corps for a more rigorous environmental review.

The Republican-led U.S. Senate must still approve the House action.

Pebble Partnership Ltd., the mine developer, has defended the rigor of the corps’ environmental review, which found that the mine would have negligible effects on fisheries in the Bristol Bay region.