BBDF Release: Bristol Bay Defense Fund Responds to Northern Dynasty Minerals' Pebble Project Technical Report

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date: September 7, 2023 

Press Contact: Grace Nolan, grace@team-arc.com 

Bristol Bay Defense Fund Responds to Northern Dynasty Minerals’ Pebble Project Technical Report 

(Dillingham, Alaska) — This week, Northern Dynasty Minerals — the company behind the recently rejected Pebble Mine project in Bristol Bay, Alaska — announced they will release an assessment detailing the alleged economic benefits of a hypothetical operational mine. 

The assessment falsely claims that the Pebble Mine can be built and fully developed without harming Bristol Bay or the people, salmon, and sustainable economy the watershed supports. In fact, the Biden Administration and Trump Administration both found that the Pebble Mine would harm Bristol Bay’s salmon fisheries and thus rejected the project.  

In response, the Bristol Bay Defense Fund issued the following statement:

“This assessment is nothing more than patching tape on a sinking ship. Alaskans don’t want Pebble Mine to be built, and the EPA’s decision made it clear that it will not be built – no matter how fanciful Northern Dynasty’s illusions are. The only thing Northern Dynasty is mining at this point are the pockets of their investors and shareholders. The public wants protections for Bristol Bay’s critical salmon fisheries, not more misleading figures from a foreign-owned mining company desperate to salvage this unpopular and dangerous mine.”

This assessment comes shortly after Northern Dynasty Minerals agreed to pay millions of dollars after being sued by a group of investors who were misled about the size and scope of the proposed Pebble Mine project. This settlement is one of many instances where the company misrepresented the size and duration of the proposed project in their permitting mine plan, which resulted in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers conducting an environmental review of a fantasy mine one-tenth the size of the project the company actually intended to build and operate. 

Additional Information: 

Earlier this year, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued 404(c) Clean Water Act protections that rejected the Pebble Mine due to the adverse risks posed to Bristol Bay’s waters and the surrounding ecosystem. Recent polling shows a strong majority (74 percent) of Alaskans remain concerned with permanently protecting Bristol Bay from large-scale mining, and nearly two-thirds (63 percent) are supportive of legislation that would protect Bristol Bay from large-scale mining forever.

To address the remaining threats in the fight to protect Bristol Bay, the Bristol Bay Defense Fund launched the campaign, “Bristol Bay Forever,” in an effort to fight for the majority of Alaskans who are concerned with protecting Bristol Bay from large-scale mining and to secure permanent protections for the entire Bristol Bay watershed, and nothing less. 

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