U.S. Army Corps rubber stamps proposed Pebble Mine, ignoring science, Tribes and fishermen; threatening world’s greatest sockeye salmon fishery and thousands of jobs

ANCHORAGE—Via U.S. Postal Service, SalmonState and others today received from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the Pebble Mine: a massive gold and copper mine and toxic waste dump proposed for the headwaters of the largest sockeye salmon run on the planet. The Corps’ conclusions in the FEIS are largely the same as the Draft EIS, which was blasted as woefully inadequate by scores of scientists, mining experts, Tribes, and federal agencies, not to mention thousands of Alaskans. 

“With a wink and an under the table handshake, Pebble is asking the U.S. Army Corps to issue a foot-in-the-door permit for a fake mine that is only a fraction of the one it intends to build,” said SalmonState Executive Director Tim Bristol. “And while Pebble will claim this document is a validation of its phony plan, this project is still in the ditch. The majority of Alaskans hate it, it will face broad and deep public opposition, Congressional scrutiny,  legal opposition, and a steadily- growing number of investors not interested in environmentally destructive and socially disruptive projects like Pebble. Pebble will cheer this document as a triumph but it is so poorly done and the process has angered so many,  the pushback will be like a tidal wave. Over time, we will come to see this moment as the beginning of the end for the proposed Pebble Mine.

SalmonState works to ensure Alaska remains a place salmon and the people who depend on them thrive.