The Pebble Mine debate

We had a huge win in the fight against Pebble Mine last week. Wednesday morning, headlines read “Army Corps Denies Pebble’s Permit”. Finally, the majority of Alaskans are being heard and the strong opposition to this dangerous project is being recognized and acknowledged. As the poll by David Binder Research pointed out, 62% of Alaskans oppose this project and I’m glad that the Army Corps decided to side with Alaskans on this issue. I know we’re all excited about this win. With the year we’ve had, a victory like this brought a bright spot to a year filled with a lot of lows. At the risk of sounding trite, this turn of events gave me something to be thankful for in an otherwise dreary period of time. However, we can’t forget that there is more work to be done. We need lasting protection for Bristol Bay if we really want to prevent Pebble Mine from coming back. If 2016 taught us anything, a change in administration can change everything when it comes to the Environment Protection Agency and the permitting system. We saw firsthand how a project can “come back from the dead”, so to speak. Hopefully this latest change in administration will be positive and we can use this change to Alaska’s advantage. In the new year, we will have a chance to push the EPA to enact the Clean Water Act. By using the Clean Water Act, specifically section 404(c), the EPA could use its “Veto Authority” to prohibit, restrict, or deny the discharge of dredged or fill material at defined sites in waters and wetlands of the United States. If these protections were placed on Bristol Bay, the EPA would essentially veto the Pebble Mine project from being built, as it cannot be built without breaching these standards, and lasting protection would be in place over Bristol Bay. This is our chance to be proactive against this dangerous mine! We have this foreign mining company on the run and we need to finish chasing them out of Alaska for good. I urge everyone who is opposed to Pebble Mine to reach out to your elected officials and the EPA in the coming months. We need to demand that Clean Water Act protections be placed on Bristol Bay.

Edward Tubbs,

Anchorage