The Environmental Protection Agency announced, for public review and comment, a revised Proposed Determination under a section of the Clean Water Act to prohibit and restrict the use of certain waters in the Bristol Bay watershed as disposal sites for the discharge of dredged or fill material associated with mining the Pebble Deposit. If finalized, the EPA’s Section 404(c) determination would protect the Bristol Bay watershed rivers, streams, and wetlands that support the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery and a subsistence-based way of life.
The Proposed Determination finds that the discharge of dredged or fill material associated with mining the Pebble Deposit, according to the EPA, could result in adverse effects on salmon fishery areas in waters within the Bristol Bay watershed, stating that it would result in fish displacement, injury, and death. The Proposed Determination takes into consideration the new scientific analyses and the Pebble Limited Partnership’s 2020 Mine Plan.
In response, John Schively, CEO of the Pebble Limited Partnership said:
“This is clearly a giant step backwards for the Biden Administration’s climate change goals. I find it ironic that the President is using the Defense Production Act to get more renewable energy minerals such as copper into production while others in the Administration seek political ways to stop domestic mining projects such as ours.
As we are still actively working through the established permitting process via our appeal of the Army Corps of Engineers permit denial, we oppose any action that is outside of that process. This preemptive effort is clearly a political maneuver to attempt to block our ability to work through that established process. Further, the Army Corps of Engineers published an Environmental Impact Statement (“EIS”) for Pebble in 2020 with input from many agencies including the EPA that states that the project can be done without harm to the region’s fisheries.
The EIS further notes the tremendous economic opportunity the project represents for the communities around Iliamna Lake where year-round jobs are scarce, and the cost of living is very high. We still need an opportunity to review the specific details that will be in the preemptive veto action. It is also worth noting that there are several additional internal steps that the EPA must follow before anything is final including a public comment period and a decision by the Assistant Administrator.
The Pebble Project remains an important domestic source for the minerals necessary for the Biden Administration to reach its green energy goals and if it blocks Pebble it will have to seek minerals to meet its goals from foreign sources which simply do not have the same environmental standards as we do.”
The salmon resources in the Bristol Bay, which could be affected under the proposed mine, have significant economic value, including subsistence uses of the Bristol Bay watershed’s salmon resources being estimated at more than $2.2 billion in 2019. The commercial salmon fishery generates the biggest part of the economic activity.
The Proposed Determination proposes to prohibit dredged discharges associated with Pebble deposit mining the Pebble deposit into waters of the United States within the mine site footprint for the 2020 Mine Plan. It also proposes to restrict discharges of dredged or fill material associated with any future plan to mine the Pebble deposit into certain waters of the South Fork Koktuli River, North Fork Koktuli River, and Upper Talarik Creek watersheds.
The EPA says that the action does not apply to any other resource development projects in the state of Alaska.
EPA Region 10 will solicit public comments on the revised Proposed Determination at public hearings in June and by written submissions through July 5. For more information, click here.
