After years of sitting on the fence, both of Alaska’s Republican U.S. Senators, Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, have now officially opposed the proposed Pebble mine.
On Thursday, Senator Murkowski went a step further and vocalized her commitment to achieving long-term protections for the Bristol Bay region.
Before we get into the details, please know that YOU, our supporters, made this happen. Your voices, spoken loudly, consistently and in unison told elected decision makers at all levels that they could not ignore or forsake Bristol Bay. Thank you.
In the recently-released Pebble Tapes, Tom Collier, the now-former CEO of the Pebble Limited Partnership, made several statements highlighting the inaction by Alaska’s Senators that, at the time, Collier viewed as helpful to the Partnership. Since then both elected officials responded publicly to the videos with opposition to the Pebble project. On September 24th, Senator Sullivan wrote on Twitter:
“Given the lies of Pebble’s leadership, the record needs to be set straight. In my August 24 statement, which I unequivocally stand by, I announced my opposition to Pebble Mine & said it should not be permitted because it does not meet the high standards we demand for all resource development projects in Alaska. Any suggestion otherwise is a blatant mischaracterization. Let me be even more clear: I oppose Pebble Mine. No Pebble Mine.”
On October 15th, during the virtual Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN) Convention, Senator Lisa Murkowski issued her strong statement yet against the proposed Pebble mine and spoke to her commitment to obtaining long term protections for the people, fish, and fish-based industries in Bristol Bay. Watch her statement below.
Both statements from Senator Murkowski and Senator Sullivan reflect major shifts since the Pebble Limited Partnership filed its Clean Water Act permit application in December 2017. Throughout the duration of the permit process, the Senators did not outwardly support or oppose the Pebble project, but stood strong in the belief that Pebble, like every development project, deserves to be fairly evaluated within the permit review process.
Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski addresses a crowd at the Bristol Bay Salmon Week celebration in Washington D.C. in September, 2019.
After the immense public pressure we applied together when the woefully inadequate Draft Environmental Impact Statement came out last year, Senator Murkowski issued her sternest warning yet to the Army Corps stating, “I believe that, again, you have a process in place, but I want to make sure that the Army Corps of Engineers and the EPA look very critically at those gaps, those deficiencies, and work to address them. If they are unable to address them, then a permit should not be issued.” Murkowski then introduced report language to the Senate Appropriations bill that called on the Army Corps of Engineers to make significant changes to the Draft Environmental Impact Statement.
During her AFN Convention statements, she referred back to this action, saying “I plan to build on my Appropriations language from last year to ensure that Bristol Bay is protected.”
In August, the Army Corps of Engineers announced that the currently proposed Pebble mine did not uphold Clean Water Act standard and wouldn’t be permitted, both Senators issued statements of support for the Army Corps’ decision.
Following Senator Murkowski’s statement at the AFN Convention, Nelli Williams, Alaska Program Director for Trout Unlimited responded:
“A long-term solution for Bristol Bay requires an official stop to the Pebble project and the mineral leases in the area taken permanently off the table. As the Senator observed, there are unresolvable issues that prevent this mine from being developed safely, in this place. We applaud Senator Murkowski’s commitment to advancing specific actions to safeguard the long-term health of the region and look forward to working together to make that happen.”
We are grateful to both Senator Sullivan and Senator Murkowski for standing with Alaskans who have loudly and clearly opposed the Pebble mine for nearly two decades. And again, we are grateful to you for achieving this new milestone.
We look forward to seeing the actions they will take to ensure Pebble’s permit is officially denied, and to secure the long-term protections Bristol Bay needs and deserves.
Alaskans, stay with us. Take a moment to thank your Senators for their words today by sending them a quick thank you message.
Bristol Bay supporters outside of Alaska: please tell YOUR elected officials to investigate the Pebble Limited Partnership and to urge the Army Corps to deny Pebble’s permit today.