The U.S. Department of Justice reaffirming its legal defense of the Clean Water Act protections for Bristol Bay is welcome news for Bristol Bay, though a fight remains in court to defend the decision our Tribes fought so hard to achieve.

Today, the United Tribes of Bristol Bay announced its endorsements for candidates who are on record supporting protections for Bristol Bay’s wild salmon.

Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) took a big step toward finalizing protections for 28 million acres of federally-managed “D-1” lands in Alaska, including 1.2 million acres in the Bristol Bay region. 

Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) took a big step toward finalizing protections for 28 million acres of federally-managed “D-1” lands in Alaska, including 1.2 million acres in the Bristol Bay region. 

Today, the United Tribes of Bristol Bay, Bristol Bay Native Association, Bristol Bay Native Corporation, Bristol Bay Economic Development Corporation, Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association, and Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay jointly  moved to intervene in a challenge by Northern Dynasty Minerals and Pebble Limited Partnership to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to protect our nation’s clean waters from the mining of the Pebble ore deposit.

Today, Congresswoman Mary Peltola (D-AK) introduced the Bristol Bay Protection Act, a bill to codify the 404(c) Clean Water Act final determination that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued last year to end the threat of the proposed Pebble Mine due to the adverse risks it poses to Bristol Bay’s waters and the surrounding ecosystem.

Today, Northern Dynasty Minerals and Pebble Limited Partnership – companies with a proven history of misleading their stakeholders, political manipulation, and misrepresenting the size and scope of their mine in proposals to the Army Corps – filed a lawsuit in the Federal District Court of Alaska challenging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Water Act veto of the Pebble Mine. This comes just two months after the Supreme Court refused to consider the State of Alaska’s original jurisdiction petition challenging the EPA’s 404(c) action. Northern Dynasty Minerals and Pebble Limited Partnership also filed a separate lawsuit in the Federal Court of Claims in Washington, D.C. alleging that EPA’s veto constituted an illegal “taking” of their property. 

Today, the United States Supreme Court rejected the State of Alaska’s lawsuit challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Water Act veto of the Pebble Mine. Today’s decision means any challenge to EPA’s actions in Bristol Bay must go through the regular federal appeals process.

Today, the Bristol Bay region - represented by the United Tribes of Bristol Bay and the Bristol Bay Native Corporation - filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court of the United States to counter Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy’s lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its Clean Water Act veto of the Pebble Mine. 

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.

Today, the Bristol Bay Defense Fund, a coalition of business, tribal, nonprofit, and community organizations dedicated to protecting Bristol Bay from the Pebble Mine, released a poll that shows strong concern among Alaska voters for protecting all of Bristol Bay from large-scale mining and strong support for legislation to protect the watershed from large-scale mining forever.

Today, in a radical “hail Mary,” legal maneuver, the State of Alaska filed a lawsuit before the U.S. Supreme Court challenging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) final determination for the Pebble deposit. In doing so, the State ignores long established procedural rules regarding challenges of agency actions. Earlier this year, EPA issued 404(c) Clean Water Act protections to end the threat of the Pebble Mine due to the adverse risks it poses to Bristol Bay’s waters and the surrounding ecosystem.

This week, Northern Dynasty Minerals—the company behind the recently vetoed Pebble Mine—agreed to pay nearly $6.4 million to a group of investors who claimed they were misled about the size and scope of the proposed mining project in Bristol Bay, Alaska.

Today, the Bristol Bay fishing season formally began, and it’s estimated that the 2023 sockeye salmon run will be more than 50 million fish. This is the first fishing season in decades that fishermen are gearing up for the first opener without the threat of the Pebble Mine—a proposed massive open pit mine at the headwaters of the Bay that would have produced up to 10.2 billion tons of waste—threatening the salmon that return each year, clean water, and health of the entire ecosystem. 

This week, in a decision refusing to overturn its November 2020 permit denial for the proposed Pebble Mine, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers remanded a small number of issues raised in a January 2021 appeal filed by the Pebble Limited Partnership for further review by its Alaska District staff. The Army Corps rejected Pebble’s permit application in 2020 based on the agency’s conclusion that the proposed large-scale mine would pose “unacceptable adverse effects” to Bristol Bay’s pristine wetlands and world-class wild salmon fishery. The Alaska District will now document certain specific findings in the administrative record to clarify its permit decision.

Bristol Bay Tribes, fishermen, businesses and allies again reiterated their opposition to mining that jeopardizes Bristol Bay’s cultures and economies in response to the latest mineral exploration efforts in the region.

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources (DNR) on February 28 publicized an application from Stuy Mines LLC for mineral exploration activities along Kaskanak Creek, located southwest of the Pebble deposit, and opened a two week public comment period on the application ending March 14.

Bristol Bay Tribes, communities, Alaska Native Corporations and organizations are celebrating the news that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized 404(c) Clean Water Act protections that will stop the proposed Pebble Mine from being built at the headwaters of Bristol Bay.

Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued 404(c) Clean Water Act protections to end the threat of the Pebble Mine due to the adverse risks it poses to Bristol Bay’s waters and the surrounding ecosystem. 

Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a “Recommended Determination” detailing potential Clean Water Act protections for Bristol Bay that could address the threat of the Pebble Mine. The release marks the closest the EPA has ever been to finalizing Clean Water Act 404(c) protections for Bristol Bay. The next (and final) step in that process is for the agency to determine whether to issue a “Final Determination” formalizing protections.