December 18, 2017

Statement from Nelli Williams, Trout Unlimited Alaska Program:

“There is a long history of investors walking away from the proposed Pebble Mine -- and for good reason. It is an ill-conceived, shortsighted project that flies in the face of local people, American jobs, businesses, a majority of Alaskans and millions of hunters and anglers. This widespread and unwavering opposition, on top of numerous other concerns, has long made Pebble a risky investment.

The wide-spread and diverse opposition to the Pebble Mine should not be underestimated. Investors in this project will continue to have a long, difficult and costly road ahead of them. Alaskans will continue fighting the Pebble Mine until the communities, thousands of American jobs, businesses and salmon are no longer at risk from this irresponsible resource development proposal. It is widely recognized that Bristol Bay is salmon country; not a place for a mega-mine. Eventually Pebble proponents will get the message that we aren’t going anywhere."

Statement from Chris Wood, Trout Unlimited President and CEO:

“Last night First Quantum put a big lump of coal in its own stocking by investing in a truly horrible project that most other investors had rightly forsaken. The Bristol Bay region’s world class rivers recently produced 16 million adult salmon—there is no other place like it in the world. In fact, half of all of the wild sockeye in the world, come from the headwaters of the river where the proposed Pebble mine would be built. It is precisely the worst place in the world to build a large mine.

After fifteen years of waiting, Pebble may finally unveil its first permit application to build the mine this week. TU will review it carefully, but we think it is highly likely the application will review it to be an excessively risky, destructive, scam. The Governor of Alaska and a large majority of Alaskans are opposed to this mine. We stand ready to expose the application’s many flaws to state and federal regulators.”