BBDF Release: Bristol Bay Tribes, Businesses, & Commercial Fishermen File Motion to Intervene in NDM & PLP Lawsuit Challenging EPA’s Clean Water Act Final Determination for Bristol Bay

Today, the United Tribes of Bristol Bay, Bristol Bay Native Association, Bristol Bay Native Corporation, Bristol Bay Economic Development Corporation, Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association, and Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay jointly  moved to intervene in a challenge by Northern Dynasty Minerals and Pebble Limited Partnership to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to protect our nation’s clean waters from the mining of the Pebble ore deposit.

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BBDF Release: Representative Peltola’s Bill to Protect Bristol Bay is Welcomed by Tribes, Commercial Fisherman, Conservation Groups

Today, Congresswoman Mary Peltola (D-AK) introduced the Bristol Bay Protection Act, a bill to codify the 404(c) Clean Water Act final determination that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued last year to end the threat of the proposed Pebble Mine due to the adverse risks it poses to Bristol Bay’s waters and the surrounding ecosystem.

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BBDF Release: Tribes, Commercial Fishers, Conservation Groups Slam Northern Dynasty Minerals & Pebble Limited Partnership Lawsuits Challenging EPA’s Clean Water Act Veto of Pebble Mine

Today, Northern Dynasty Minerals and Pebble Limited Partnership – companies with a proven history of misleading their stakeholders, political manipulation, and misrepresenting the size and scope of their mine in proposals to the Army Corps – filed a lawsuit in the Federal District Court of Alaska challenging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Water Act veto of the Pebble Mine. This comes just two months after the Supreme Court refused to consider the State of Alaska’s original jurisdiction petition challenging the EPA’s 404(c) action. Northern Dynasty Minerals and Pebble Limited Partnership also filed a separate lawsuit in the Federal Court of Claims in Washington, D.C. alleging that EPA’s veto constituted an illegal “taking” of their property. 

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BBDF Release: Bristol Bay Tribes & Native Corporation File Amicus Brief Opposing Governor Dunleavy’s Pebble Mine SCOTUS Lawsuit 

Today, the Bristol Bay region - represented by the United Tribes of Bristol Bay and the Bristol Bay Native Corporation - filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court of the United States to counter Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy’s lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its Clean Water Act veto of the Pebble Mine. 

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BBDF Release: Dunleavy is Out of Line with Alaskans on Undermining Bristol Bay Protections

Today, the Bristol Bay Defense Fund, a coalition of business, tribal, nonprofit, and community organizations dedicated to protecting Bristol Bay from the Pebble Mine, released a poll that shows strong concern among Alaska voters for protecting all of Bristol Bay from large-scale mining and strong support for legislation to protect the watershed from large-scale mining forever.

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BBDF Release: Tribes, Commercial and Sport Fishers, Conservation Groups Slam the State of Alaska’s SCOTUS Lawsuit Against EPA’s Decision to Veto Pebble Mine

Today, in a radical “hail Mary,” legal maneuver, the State of Alaska filed a lawsuit before the U.S. Supreme Court challenging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) final determination for the Pebble deposit. In doing so, the State ignores long established procedural rules regarding challenges of agency actions. Earlier this year, EPA issued 404(c) Clean Water Act protections to end the threat of the Pebble Mine due to the adverse risks it poses to Bristol Bay’s waters and the surrounding ecosystem.

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BBDF Release: Tribes, Commercial Fishing, Conservation Groups Celebrate First Bristol Bay Fishing Season in Two Decades Without the Threat of the Pebble Mine

Today, the Bristol Bay fishing season formally began, and it’s estimated that the 2023 sockeye salmon run will be more than 50 million fish. This is the first fishing season in decades that fishermen are gearing up for the first opener without the threat of the Pebble Mine—a proposed massive open pit mine at the headwaters of the Bay that would have produced up to 10.2 billion tons of waste—threatening the salmon that return each year, clean water, and health of the entire ecosystem. 

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BBDF Release: Bristol Bay Tribes, Commercial and Sport Fishers, Conservation Groups Respond to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Partial Remand of Pebble Mine Permit Denial 

This week, in a decision refusing to overturn its November 2020 permit denial for the proposed Pebble Mine, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers remanded a small number of issues raised in a January 2021 appeal filed by the Pebble Limited Partnership for further review by its Alaska District staff. The Army Corps rejected Pebble’s permit application in 2020 based on the agency’s conclusion that the proposed large-scale mine would pose “unacceptable adverse effects” to Bristol Bay’s pristine wetlands and world-class wild salmon fishery. The Alaska District will now document certain specific findings in the administrative record to clarify its permit decision.

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BBDF Release: Tribes, Fishermen, Businesses, Conservation Groups Respond to New Potential Mineral Exploration in Bristol Bay Watershed

Bristol Bay Tribes, fishermen, businesses and allies again reiterated their opposition to mining that jeopardizes Bristol Bay’s cultures and economies in response to the latest mineral exploration efforts in the region.

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources (DNR) on February 28 publicized an application from Stuy Mines LLC for mineral exploration activities along Kaskanak Creek, located southwest of the Pebble deposit, and opened a two week public comment period on the application ending March 14.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Bristol Bay Tribes Urge EPA to End the Threat of Pebble Mine

Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a “Recommended Determination” detailing potential Clean Water Act protections for Bristol Bay that could address the threat of the Pebble Mine. The release marks the closest the EPA has ever been to finalizing Clean Water Act 404(c) protections for Bristol Bay. The next (and final) step in that process is for the agency to determine whether to issue a “Final Determination” formalizing protections.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Latest Report Showing Pebble’s Deceptions to Lawmakers & Public Emphasizes the Need for 404(c) Protections in Bristol Bay

A lengthy report released today by the U.S. House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee shows new depths of Pebble’s deceptions to lawmakers, investors and the public, emphasizing the urgent need for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to enact Clean Water Act 404(c) safeguards that protect Bristol Bay from the threat of this toxic mine project.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: UTBB announces “Salmon Slate” endorsements for 2022 election

United Tribes of Bristol Bay’s “Salmon Slate” endorsements for the 2022 general election are: Lisa Murkowski and Pat Chesbro for U.S. Senate; Mary Peltola for U.S. House; Les Gara and Bill Walker for Alaska Governor; Lyman Hoffman for Alaska State Senate; and Bryce Edgmon for Alaska State House of Representatives. Additionally, UTBB endorses voting no on ballot measure one, opposing a constitutional convention.

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