Alaska grown kayaker, white-water adventurer and angler, Brendan Wells, caught our attention earlier this year when his company released an outstanding film documenting the Koktuli River and exploring the issue of the proposed Pebble mine. 

After issuing a harsh warning to the Army Corps of Engineers at a Bristol Bay salmon event last week, Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski followed up by introducing report language into the Senate Appropriations committee Thursday morning that called on the Corps to make meaningful changes to Pebble’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement.

Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski gave the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers her harshest warning yet regarding their work on the proposed Pebble mine.

The impacts of North America’s largest open-pit copper and gold mine would go beyond the state land the project is slated for. Pebble would impact areas that was first and currently owned by Alaska Natives, and land that is now owned by the American public.  

Our generous partners have shared their products, art and time in ways that gets you unique items, and that gives back to the effort to stop Pebble and protect Bristol Bay. Check out what our friends are doing to help stop Pebble, and consider supporting them today!

56.3 million salmon ran through Bristol Bay and commercial fishermen harvested 43 million fish. This was the fifth consecutive year that Bristol Bay saw runs with more than 50 million fish, which also fed trout populations sought by anglers worldwide.

The EPA publicly announced the reversal of protections for Bristol Bay on July 30, but EPA staff sources reported that they were informed of the decision a month earlier, the day after a meeting between the President and Governor Dunleavy in Alaska.

Protections outlined in the 2014 Proposed Determination are the reason most people thought that the Pebble mine was no longer a threat to Bristol Bay. Today, those protections are gone.

Despite recent news that the EPA may rollback proposed protections for the region, their official comments slammed the Army Corps’ review of the proposal for failing to include critical information about how the project could affect Bristol Bay. And Senator Lisa Murkowski agreed.