Multiple new lawsuits challenge safeguards for the region

The fish, wildlife, people, and businesses of Bristol Bay are threatened once again by Pebble Mine proponents. This time, from a seemingly coordinated legal attack from Northern Dynasty Minerals and the State of Alaska. A flurry of legal filings last week demonstrates the lengths backers of Pebble Mine will go to advance their unwanted mine and the need for legislative safeguards to protect this important region from future frivolous lawsuits.

Northern Dynasty Minerals, the foreign mining corporation behind the Pebble Mine, has launched another legal assault against the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) decision to use section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act to protect the rivers and wetlands at the headwaters of Bristol Bay. These safeguards, widely celebrated by Alaskans, anglers and hunters, and salmon-lovers across the country, prevent the discharge of mine waste into the waters within and near the Pebble deposit area. Northern Dynasty Mineral’s legal challenge, filed on March 15th, 2024 in the Alaska District Court, seeks to overturn this decision.

The company also filed a takings case against the federal government in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. They claim they are owed compensation for the EPA’s decision to safeguard water and wetlands from degradation around the Pebble deposit. The case claims the EPA’s use of 404(c) is a permanent taking of their property and they are owed money after investing over $1 billion in the project.

The State of Alaska has filed a similar takings case in federal claims court. They argue Alaska is owed over $700 billion in compensation for the EPA's action that made it much more difficult for the Pebble Mine to proceed. This new legal action by the State of Alaska comes after their lawsuit challenging Clean Water Act safeguards was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court this January.

The EPA has the authority and responsibility under section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act to restrict, prohibit or deny mine waste discharge in areas where water resources that are important to fish and wildlife or community water supplies are at risk. They announced their Final Determination that safeguards the headwaters of Bristol Bay in January 2023. This came after nearly 13 years of tribal consultation, unwavering public support and robust scientific review.

The EPA determined that mine waste discharge from the Pebble Deposit would have unacceptable adverse impacts on the world’s most productive salmon fishery and the jobs, businesses, and cultures they support. Yet both Northern Dynasty Minerals and The State of Alaska have attempted to overturn these safeguards and claim they are owed billions of dollars from American taxpayers because Pebble Mine was rejected by a lawful and seldom used process.

Trout Unlimited has stood up for Bristol Bay for over two decades. We’ve gone to bat using a variety of legal, scientific and advocacy tools and we are prepared to do so again, but this complicated legal back-and-forth makes one thing clear; this nonsense won’t stop until Bristol Bay is durably protected by legislative safeguards. We won’t rest until these protections are in place. We hope you won’t either, because we need you at our side.

Tell decision makers you support the establish watershed wide safeguards to promote clean water, healthy habitat, and the most productive wild sockeye run in the world.