Alaska Public Media - The nation’s top environmental official said he fully supports his agency’s decision to block a proposed gold and copper mine in Alaska’s salmon-rich Bristol Bay, even as the state of Alaska has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn that action.

The Bristol Bay Heritage Land Trust has acquired 44,000 acres in conservation easements over three areas of critical salmon habitat, blocking the access route to the proposed Pebble mine, the trust announced this week in its 2022 annual report and 2023 newsletter. 

The latest round of polling on Alaskans’ attitudes toward the controversial Pebble Mine project shows that most Alaskans favor long-term protections for the Bristol Bay watershed.

WASHINGTON — The state of Alaska is suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over its final determination halting the Pebble mine, and is asking the Supreme Court to hear the case.

Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. has agreed to pay nearly $6.4 million to a group of investors who claim their investments suffered a series of price declines following revelations of environmental challenges to the company's ambitious Pebble Mine project.

The Seattle Times — The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday proposed protections for some Bristol Bay drainages, a move that — if finalized — would effectively block attempts to develop an open pit mine to extract gold, copper, silver and molybdenum in a Southwest Alaska region that sustains the world’s biggest sockeye salmon runs.

KDLG- Representatives with the United Tribes of Bristol Bay and Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay met with members of Congress and the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C., last week with a request: To permanently block development of the Pebble deposit under the Clean Water Act.

KDLG — The Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday that it intends to revise a proposed determination under the Clean Water Act that could permanently block development of the Pebble deposit, upstream from Bristol Bay. But mine opponents are frustrated at the slow pace.

NATIONAL FISHERMAN — Eight years ago this week, representatives of Bristol Bay Tribes, commercial fishermen, seafood processors, Pacific Northwest and Alaska fisheries, local chefs, and other stakeholders convened in Seattle for a rally to urge the U.S. EPA to veto Pebble Mine.

NATIONAL FISHERMAN — “We’ve got the most sustainable fishery in the world,” said Michael Jackson, board president of the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association on Thursday in Seattle. “We didn’t do anything to earn that. But it’s there.”