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The United Tribes of Bristol Bay, Bristol Bay Native Association and Bristol Bay Econimic Devlopment Corporation published “The Call” in December, after the Army Corps of Engineers denied Northern Dynasty’s permit application for the proposed Pebble Mine. UTBB is a Tribal consortium that represents 15 Tribes in the region. The Bristol Bay Native Association and the Bristol Bay Economic Development Corporation support UTBB’s proposal.
At a virtual town hall earlier this month, UTBB presented a road map for the two-part plan. Here’s deputy director Lindsay Layland.
“Tribes in the region and BB leadership have came together once again, to revive their previous request for 404c action, and we put a proposal forward for both administrative and legislative action for Bristol Bay,” Layland said.
Bristol Bay Tribes and entities renew call for permanent watershed protections kdlg.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from kdlg.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
and is republished here by permission.
Robin Samuelsen still recalls his first meeting about the prospective Pebble Mine. It was around 2005 or 2006, in Dillingham, Alaska. Listening to an early plan for developing a copper and gold mine in the spawning grounds of Bristol Bay’s abundant salmon, this Curyung tribal chief and commercial fisherman quickly made up his mind. “You’ll kill off our salmon,” Samuelsen remembers saying, adding: “I’ll be up there to stop you.”
“You’ll kill off our salmon. I’ll be up there to stop you.”
More than 15 years later, in November 2020, the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) denied the Pebble Mine a key permit, a sharp setback for the mine though not the first. Already, the mine’s developer, Pebble Limited Partnership (PLP), has filed an appeal challenging that decision. PLP was joined by the State of Alaska, which, in an unusual move, filed its own appeal. Both appeals are currently under review.
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Robin Samuelsen still recalls his first meeting about the prospective Pebble Mine. It was around 2005 or 2006, in Dillingham, Alaska. Listening to an early plan for developing a copper and gold mine in the spawning grounds of Bristol Bay’s abundant salmon, this Curyung tribal chief and commercial fisherman quickly made up his mind. “You’ll kill off our salmon,” Samuelsen remembers saying, adding: “I’ll be up there to stop you.”
More than 15 years later, in November 2020, the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) denied the Pebble Mine a key permit, a sharp setback for the mine though not the first. Already, the mine’s developer, Pebble Limited Partnership (PLP), has filed an appeal challenging that decision. PLP was joined by the State of Alaska, which, in an unusual move, filed its own appeal. Both appeals are currently under review.
While Alaskans are looking ahead to a bright future for Bristol Bay, Gov. Mike Dunleavy continues to look backward and is seeking to keep the proposed Pebble mine project alive through dubious legal tactics. The latest example of this is the state s appeal of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers decision to deny a key Clean Water Act permit for the project. The appeal is wrong on the law. It is wrong on science. And it is wrong for Alaskans.
Let us start with the legal arguments. The applicable regulations specify that only the party denied a Clean Water Act Section 404 permit can file an administrative appeal of that decision. Corps of Engineers guidance on the appeal process is equally specific, the process provides permit applicants with an opportunity to seek a timely and objective reconsideration of an adverse permit decision, and there is no third-party involvement in the appeal process itself. This is black and white. Moreover, the Pebble Limited Partnership (PLP), the