Bristol Bay Tribes Applaud House Committee’s Call on Inspector General to Investigate Pebble Permitting Process
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday August 10, 2020
Contact: Alannah Hurley, United Tribes of Bristol Bay, (907) 843-1633
Bristol Bay Tribes Applaud House Committee’s Call on Inspector General to Investigate Pebble Permitting Process
Dillingham, AK – Today the U.S. House Oversight and Reform Committee sent a letter to the Department of Defense’s Inspector General requesting an investigation of the Pebble Mine permitting process. The letter outlined serious concerns with the unprecedented timeline, disregard for scientific scrutiny of the assessment, and the millions spent by the Pebble Limited Partnership on lobbyists in D.C. to influence the agency’s conduct within the process.
Statement from Alannah Hurley, Executive Director of United Tribes of Bristol Bay:
"Our Tribes applaud the House Oversight and Reform Committee for its critical call for investigation. We believe the Pebble Mine's rushed and inadequate NEPA permitting process is the direct result of the millions spent by the Company lobbying to influence the Army Corps. The result was an unprecedented rushed timeline that resulted in one of the most inadequate environmental assessments ever written. Our tribes experienced firsthand the blatant disregard for science and integrity within this process. From the start, the Corps worked closely with Pebble to silence the voices of the other cooperating agencies, tribes, and fishermen fighting to ensure our way of life and thousands of sustainable American jobs are protected. We urge the Inspector General to launch this critical investigation as soon as possible, and we are confident it will reveal the truth: Pebble's NEPA process was broken from the start and failed to protect the national treasure that is Bristol Bay."
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United Tribes of Bristol Bay is a tribal consortium representing 15 Bristol Bay tribal governments (that represent over 80 percent of the region’s total population) working to protect the Yup’ik, Dena'ina, and Alutiiq way of life in Bristol Bay.