Big Win for Many Alaskans as EPA Thwarts Development of Bristol Bay’s Pebble Mine
By Matthew Scragg
Last Thursday, December 1st, the EPA released their Recommended Determination, Pursuant to Section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act for the Pebble Deposit Area in Southwest Alaska.
In their report, the EPA outlined that they are recommending to ‘prohibit and restrict the use of certain waters to discharge and deposit dredged or fill materials associated with mining activities’. The EPA released their recommendation with the claim that discharge related to mining activities will cause ‘unacceptable adverse effects on anadromous fishery areas in the Bristol Bay watershed ’. This proves to be another important milestone in the EPA’s four step Clean Water Act 404(c) process to protect the fishery. [1]
Wetlands feeding into Bristol Bay.
Photo courtesy of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. [1]
According to EPA Region 10 Administrator Casey Sixkiller, ‘This action [will] help protect salmon fishery areas that support world-class commercial and recreational fisheries, and that have sustained Alaska Native communities for thousands of years, supporting a subsistence-based way of life for one of the last intact wild salmon-based cultures in the world.’ [2]
The proposed Pebble Mine deposit (location shown below) contains an abundance of gold and copper bearing minerals. ‘Since 2001, Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. and subsequently the Pebble Limited Partnership have been conducting data collection and analysis as part of efforts to pursue the development of a large-scale mine at the Pebble deposit’. [1] In 2011, the EPA began their 3-year assessment of the Bristol Bay watershed in response to Alaska Native tribes’ request for its protection. [3] Three years later, the EPA released a Proposed Determination, which should have paved an immediate path towards a Recommended and Final Determination barring developers from further pursuing mining operations. In July 2019, under the Trump administration, the EPA withdrew its 2014 Proposed Determination. By fall 2021, the EPA began reinstating the process of making a Clean Water Act determination and the Alaska District Court voted to reinstate the 2014 Bristol Bay Proposed Determination, reinitiating the Clean Water Act Section 404(c) process. [4]
Bristol Bay supports one of the world’s largest sockeye salmon runs, producing about half of the globe’s sockeye harvest
Photo by Matthew Scragg
During the public comment period preceding the December 2022 Recommended Determination, Sarah Schumann, commercial fisherman and Principle of Shining Sea Fisheries Consulting LLC stated ‘The Bristol Bay salmon fishery is acknowledged across the world as a premier example of sustainable fisheries management. Bristol Bay not only supports fishermen from Alaska but from states around the country…. Bristol Bay supports 14,000 fishing jobs and is valued at $1.5 billion. Mining like the proposed Pebble Mine has no place in such a valuable watershed.’ [5]
Advocates and stakeholders of the mine argue that the Pebble Mine will provide high paying jobs to local communities, and that the need for sourcing and producing copper (for electrification) is essential in a world working towards a sustainable future. Under its current proposal, Pebble Limited Partnership targets the lifespan of the mine at 20-25 years. Anti-mine proponents proclaim that the net negative impact of the mine will affect the fishery for centuries to come, and that the ‘project would cause unavoidable adverse impacts to aquatic resources which would result in [irreversible] degradation to the aquatic resources [of the region]”. [1]
Figure courtesy of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. [1]
Now, with the release of the Recommended Determination, the EPA Office of Water has 60 days to affirm, modify, or revoke the decision.
Find out more here.
UPDATE - February 1st, 2023
On January 30, 2023, EPA issued a Final Determination under its Clean Water Act Section 404(c) authority to help protect the most productive wild salmon ecosystem in the world. With this action, EPA is limiting the disposal of dredged and fill material associated with developing the Pebble deposit in certain waters that are important to sustaining the region’s salmon resources [4]. In other words, the EPA finalized the Decembers Recommended Determination, safeguarding Clean Water Act protections for Bristol Bay.
[1] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Recommended Determination of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 10 Pursuant to Section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act Pebble Deposit Area, Southwest Alaska. December 2022. EPA Region 10, Seattle, Washington. https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2022-12/Pebble-Deposit-Area-404c-RD-Executive-Summary.pdf [2] Mark Thiessen. EPA proposes restrictions to block proposed Alaska mine. Associated Press, Anchorage, Alaska. https://apnews.com/article/business-alaska-fish-salmon-us-environmental-protection-agency-286968406aa8ebaff624ae3217d6884d [3] Pebblewatch.com. The Pebble deposit - A TIMELINE. https://pebblewatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/NewPWTimeline_2017sm.pdf [4] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Bristol Bay 404(c) Timeline. https://www.epa.gov/bristolbay/bristol-bay-404c-timeline [5] Sarah Schumann. June 21, 2022. Public Comment to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. https://www.regulations.gov/comment/EPA-R10-OW-2022-0418-0126