Pebble opponents want Inspector General review of environmental review by Army corps; mining company says that’s fine with it

Pebble opposition groups and the U.S. House Oversight Committee have requested an Inspector General review of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ final environmental review of the controversial Pebble mine proposal.

The mining company, Pebble Limited Partnership, says that’s just fine with it.

Pebble, near Iliamna southwest of Anchorage, is one of the world’s largest undeveloped copper and gold deposits, but the mineral deposit is located at the headwaters of salmon-bear streams and has drawn intense opposition from tribal groups and communities in the Bristol Bay region over worries that pollution could damage rich salmon fisheries.

A letter sent from the Democrat-led House committee to the Inspector General for the U.S. Army, the Department of Defense, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has asked for a critique of the corps’ work on the Pebble Final Environmental Impact Statement.

PLP supported that request but for different reasons, basically to validate the agency’s work.

“The work of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Pebble has been under assault since day one and it is time for this mischaracterization of their integrity to end,” Pebble CEO Tom Collier said. “The best way to accomplish this is to have the (agency’s) work on the Pebble project reviewed by the Inspector General. We are confident the IG will find the allegations raised against the USACE to be completely baseless.”

Critics in Bristol Bay said the review is flawed because it was rushed under a Trump administration mandate to conduct environmental assessments on a fixed timetable, which doesn’t allow adequate time to investigate complex issues.

In letter supporting the IG review Pebble Partnership said it has responded consistently that:

• the Pebble EIS fully meets standards for National Environmental Impact Statement scientific review of major development projects, in terms of process, scope and level of detail;

• the duration of the Army corps’ review of the Pebble Project falls within a typical range for EIS processes undertaken for resource projects in Alaska and elsewhere in the U.S.;

• the permit application submitted to the USACE in December 2017 to initiate a federal NEPA review of the Pebble Project was accepted in January 2018 because it met all statutory requirements;

• the USACE has fully and appropriately recorded, addressed and responded to comments and concerns raised by cooperating agencies and stakeholders over the course of the Pebble EIS; and,

• EPA’s June 2019 action to withdraw its former Proposed Determination (on banning a Bristol Bay mine) was undertaken to restore the proper statutory process for the Pebble EIS, not to provide any political benefit to Alaska or Pebble.

“We have been consistent on these points for many months,” that the allegations are without merit,” Collier said. However, “they continue to be made by project opponents and repeated by congressmen who have not taken the necessary time to conduct their own due diligence before they echo false claims.”

Meanwhile, the mining company’s initiatives to share profits and business opportunities in the region, to create allies, appear to be getting at least a little traction. Some local residents have signed up for a special dividend program, and local village corporations are engaging in service contracts.

In June, the Pebble Partnership established the Pebble Performance dividend program. So far five Bristol Bay residents’ names were drawn from applications who will receive early early $1,000 annual dividends starting later this year and continuing until the startup of construction when the full regular dividend program will begin, the company said.

Names of the applicants for dividends are kept confidential but one whose name was drawn for the early dividend consented to his name being released. Charlie Morey, of Newhalen, said, “I view the Pebble Performance Dividend as an act of goodwill for the future. It is evidence of Pebble's concern for the people and goal of creating opportunities in the Bristol Bay region.”

Pebble Partnership spokesman Mike Heatwole said the company cannot say how many people have signed up for the regular dividends.

Bristol Bay Native Corp. officials and other opponents to the mine had harsh words about the dividends, however: “The Pebble Performance Dividend is the latest attempt by PLP (Pebble Limited Partnership) to try to win support from the people of Bristol Bay for the proposed Pebble mine. PLP’s past efforts have failed and we expect this effort to fail as well,” BBNC said in a statement. BBNC is the Alaska Native regional corporation for the Bristol Bay region.

“PLP is promising a dividend ‘once construction begins’ which, according to its own timeline (an unrealistically rosy one at best), is still at least three to four years away, BBNC said in its statement. “Why would PLP open a 75-day application period now for a potential dividend that is multiple years away? This is just another PLP tactic to try to sway public opinion on this vastly unpopular project,”

PLP said the dividend registration window for the dividend remains open through the end of August. Company CEO Tom Collier recently announced that PLOP would offer three additional early dividends for qualified residents who sign up by August 31. There will also be a grand prize drawing for a 2021 Honda four-wheeler for all registrants who have signed up for the program.

Participation in the program is confidential and registrants do not have to support or oppose the mine in order to qualify. The program is open to all year-round residents of Bristol Bay that are 18 years of age or older.

The company has committed to paying the dividend to qualified participants upon the start of project construction and has said it will provide a minimum $3 million in annual payments to the fund for dividends. Collier indicated that internal financial models show that once the Pebble mine becomes profitable that the net profits dividend is expected to be substantial.

In other developments, PLP spokesman Heatwole said the company is discussing participation by a regional group, the identity still held confidential, in a new regional energy transmission and distribution entity to be formed. This would take advantage of surplus power that could be available from the mine.

Pebble’s development plan includes a natural gas pipeline built from Cook Inlet to a mine power plant. Since natural gas is a less expensive fuel than oil the project could make electricity available to local communities at lower costs. Pebble’s project design includes the potential energy needs for the region. Pebble estimates 270 megawatts of power would be produced from a power plant at site. The plant will be powered with natural gas that will reach the site through a 12-inch natural gas pipeline.

Earlier, the company signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Alaska Peninsula Corp., a consortium of Iliamna Lake village corporations to provide transportation and port operations support for the proposed mine.

The consortium would operate logistics for the project related to the proposed northern transportation road corridor. This would include managing port operations, maintaining the access road between the Pebble Port and the Pebble Mine Site, and providing trucking and other logistics services between the Pebble Port and the Pebble Mine Site.

The value of the MOU is expected to exceed $20 million per year during operations, PLP said in a statement. The operation of the logistics chain is critical to the successful development of the Pebble Project and this MOU is evidence of the strong support some village corporations provided to Pebble over the past few years.

The MOU envisions the village corporations along the northern transportation corridor will play a significant and meaningful role in the development and operation of the Pebble Project and ensure full local participation in contracting and employment opportunities. This role at Pebble will also enable these village corporations to extend these services directly to the residents of the villages with the opportunity to significantly reduce the enormous cost of living in these communities.

“For APC and the other village corporations around the lake, contract opportunities like this are how we can ensure local hire and other direct local benefits from the project while assisting in the safe development and operations of the Pebble project. We want to be at the table with the Pebble Team in making good decisions for the region and ensuring our shareholders directly realize the benefits of this opportunity,” said APC’s CEO, Dave McAlister.

APC is an Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act village corporation formed with the merger of the village corporations of Port Heiden, South Naknek, Ugashik, Kokhanok, and Newhalen. APC and PLP signed an agreement in 2018 which provided right of way access across APC lands and gave APC “Preferred Contractor” status on Pebble-related contracts located on APC lands. Since that time, APC has provided a number of contract services to PLP.