Army corps denies critical permit for proposed Pebble mine near Iliamna

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers denied critical permit Nov. 25 for the proposed large copper/gold/molybdenum Pebble mine near Iliamna, 200 miles southwest of Anchorage. The agency’s action was taken, it said, after finding that the project plan for the discharge of fill material in wetlands does not meet federal Clean Water Act standards.

Pebble Limited Partnership, a subsidiary of Vancouver, B.C.-based Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd., expressed disappointment in the decision and said it would likely file an appeal.

Northern Dynasty has been working for almost 20 years on its plan to develop Pebble, a mineral prospect about 150 miles southwest of Anchorage. About $800 million has been spent over the years in exploration, environmental and engineering work at Pebble.

“We are obviously dismayed given that the (Army Corps) had published an Environmental Impact Statement in July that clearly stated the project could successfully co-exist with the (regional salmon) fishery and would have provided substantial economic benefit to the communities closest to the deposit,” Pebble Partnership CEO John Shively said.

“The Pebble Deposit contains minerals such as copper that are in the national interest as they will be necessary to support the nation’s transition to more renewable sources of energy and a lower carbon future. President-elect (Joe) Biden has stated that increasing domestic copper production will be an important step in meeting these goals,” Shively said.

In a statement, Col. Damon Delarosa, the Army Corps of Engineers’ Alaska District Commander said: “The decision on the proposed Pebble Project culminates a review process that lasted nearly three years and involved the development of an environmental impact statement. That assessment included an in-depth analysis of project alternatives along with an examination of supplemental technical information provided by cooperating agencies and the public.”

“This action is based on all available facts and complies with existing laws and regulations. It reflects a regulatory process that is fair, flexible and balanced,” Delarosa said in the statement.

It is Pebble’s luck to have a huge mineral endowment its curse is its location at the headwaters of streams that feed into rivers where salmon spawn. The fear that has stoked the opposition is that an accidental discharge of waste at the planned large surface mine could damage those streams and the Bristol Bay fishery, one of the world’s largest wild salmon fisheries.

Under the best of circumstances, however, Pebble is fighting an uphill battle. The project is strongly opposed by politically-influential U.S. conservation groups as well as Alaska Native tribes and fisheries groups in the Bristol Bay region. The likely environmental policies of the incoming Biden administration did not bode well for the project even if the Army corps had accepted PLP’s wetlands impact mitigation plan and issued a Record of Decision on the Final Environmental Impact Statement.

Shively, PLP’s president, believes the biggest losers in the corps’ action may be people who live in the Bristol Bay region, particularly those in economically-depressed villages near where the mine would be located. “One of the real tragedies of this decision is the loss of economic opportunities for people living in the area. The (environmental impact statement) clearly describes those benefits, and now a politically driven decision has taken away the hope that many had for a better life,” Shively said. Mining jobs typically pay $100,000 a year and Pebble would create several hundred full-time jobs in operations, if a mine were built.

“This is also a lost opportunity for the state’s future economy – especially at a time when Alaska is seeing record job losses from the impacts associated with Covid,” he said.

State legislators in the region, applauded the corps’ decision, however. State Rep. Bryce Edgmon, who is Speaker of the House and whose district encompasses Bristol Bay, said, “I strongly support resource development in Alaska but adamantly believe projects should be done the right way. That requires meaningful local engagement and buy-in.”

Stutes said: “It’s nice to see such an important decision from the federal government in response to the broad recognition of the value of the Bristol Bay’s pristine wilderness and world-class salmon fishery to Alaska, the United States, and the world.”

Gov. Mike Dunleavy has a sharply different opinion on the matter, however. The governor hasn’t yet commented on the corps’ decision but spelled out his views in early November in a letter to Edgmon and Stutes. It was a stinging criticism of Bristol Bay leaders opposing the mine, in which Dunleavy charged them with blocking a project that could bring huge economic benefits to an economically-depressed region.

The salmon-based regional economy of Bristol Bay is not as sturdy as mine opponents argue. Most salmon fishing permits for the region are largely owned by nonresidents, Duneavy said, meaning most of the money from salmon fishing drains out of the state. The governor challenged Pebble’s opponents to cite their own vision for the region’s economy.

“As governor of Alaska, one of my duties is to create economic opportunity for the benefit if all Alaskans, utilizing every available resource within our borders. No serious person would disagree that accessing the mineral deposits within the Bristol Bay Mining District, if done in a way that protects the watershed, would transform the lives of Alaskans living within the region,” Dunleavy wrote.

“My job is to ensure that each project is subject to a fair and rigorous review process, and that every opportunity to create thousands of jobs. Is fully explored. Preemptive vetoes (sought by the mine opponents) particularly in a region suffering from generational poverty and a chronic lack of economic options, have no place in Alaska,” the governor wrote.

Dunleavy went on to point out weaknesses in salmon fishing as a regional economic anchor: “The wild salmon fishery, which I am unwilling to jeopardize, does not operate year-around. Most of the income it generates does not fall into the hands of those who live in the Bristol Bay region. Only 76 local workers filled the 5471 (salmon) processing jobs in 1917,” the governor wrote.

Of local people who do fish, earnings are less than out-of-state harvesters, and only 25 percent of salmon-fishing permits in Bristol Bay are held by local residents. “In the off-season, year-around residents are left to cope with unemployment rates that often exceed 12 percent and poverty levels that are more than double the statewide average, according to 2019 U.S. census data.

Pebble’s fired back at Dunleavy, although it took three weeks. Edgmon wrote the reply, which was signed by Edgmon and four regional leaders: Bristol Bay Native Corp. CEO Jason Metrokin; Norm Van Vactor, president of the Bristol Bay Economic Development Corp.; Alannah Hanley, executive director of United Tribes of Bristol Bay, and Ralpf Anderson, CEO of Bristol Bay Native Assoc.

In his letter Edgmon laid out the mine opponents’ alternate vision of a regional economy based on renewable resources like salmon and nonrenewable resources that are not disruptive of the region. A large mine at Pebble would threaten the region if there were a major accident. Dunleavy wrote his letter on Oct. 6. The reply came Oct. 26.

The governor compared Bristol Bay to Alaska’s North Slope, where Inupiat residents of the region were wary of oil development when it first began in the 1960s and 1970s but have since embraced it, at least most residents. “Thanks to responsible resource development, they (North Slope residents) have seen significant and ongoing improvements to life expectancy, health care capacity and education,” the governor said in his letter.

The environment of the region and its wildlife have not suffered. “The Central Arctic (caribou) herd expanded from 6,000 to 30,000, and traditional whaling activities continued unabated,” Dunleavy said.

“In fact, several (Alaska Native) corporations in the Bristol Bay area have made investments in these same oil fields,” the governor wrote.