News: Pebble Mine 2015 in Review – “The Year of Failing Expensively”

The battle to stop the infamous Pebble Mine isn’t over, but if you’re a shareholder in the embattled project, 2015 was another disappointing year

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]n court and in Congress, trying desperately to recharge its reckless scheme for a massive open pit mine in the headwaters of the Bristol Bay wild salmon fishery, The Pebble Partnership (“Pebble”) continued throwing good money after bad. In fact, at Pebble headquarters these days, probably the only happy faces belong to the army of Washington, DC lobbyists and lawyers — including Pebble’s DC-based CEO Tom Collier — who, in 2015, were the most obvious beneficiaries of what little remains of Pebble’s cash on hand.

On the other hand, the unprecedented coalition of opposition to the Pebble Mine just kept right on growing — in success, numbers, and resolve:

A decision by the Alaska Supreme Court upholding a statewide Bristol Bay salmon protection initiative — called Bristol Bay Forever — approved in November 2014 by over 65% of the statewide vote.

Another Alaska Supreme Court decision, holding that the lack of public notice rendered unconstitutional Pebble’s decades-long exploration program.

A decision by the federal court of appeals affirming the dismissal of Pebble’s Clean Water Act challenge to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) Pebble Mine review.

A petition to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources submitted by the Bristol Bay Native Corporation and over a dozen groups, including native tribes and fishing lodges, demanding an investigation of, and remediation plan for, the impacts of Pebble’s years of exploration in the headwaters of the Bristol Bay watershed.

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