Pebble Partnership, Army Corps Should Release Revised Bristol Bay Mitigation Plan To Ensure Public Trust
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Nov 24, 2020
CONTACT: media@conservamerica.org
Pebble Partnership, Army Corps Should Release Revised Bristol Bay Mitigation Plan To Ensure Public Trust
WASHINGTON, D.C. – ConservAmerica President Jeff Kupfer this week called on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to publicly release a new Clean Water Act mitigation plan submitted by the partnership seeking to develop a massive gold and copper mine near the headwaters of Alaska’s Bristol Bay.
In a letter to Lt. Gen. Scott Spellmon, Kupfer argued that the Corps is required by regulation to provide a meaningful opportunity for public comment on the proposed mitigation plan submitted by the Pebble Limited Partnership. “Given the public’s heightened concern regarding this project and the potential for permanent destruction of essential water resources, we believe it is incumbent upon the Corps to release this plan to the American people without delay,” Kupfer wrote.
The Pebble Limited Partnership submitted the mitigation plan to the Corps on Nov. 16, the details of which have not been made public. The new plan is a response to a decision by the Corps back in August that all in-kind compensatory mitigation related to direct and indirect impacts of the mine be carried out in the same watershed — a high hurdle for developers given the region’s pristine state.
In an August 20 letter to the Pebble Partnership, the Corps found that “discharges at the mine site would cause unavoidable adverse impacts to the aquatic resources,” including the destruction of 2,825 acres of wetlands, 132.5 acres of open waters, and 129.5 miles of streams.
Given the Pebble project’s controversial status and the potential size of the proposed mine as described in previous development plans, it’s essential that the public fully trust the federal review process and the validity of any Clean Water Act permit eventually issued for the project.
“Transparency is essential to ensure that public trust. While the Pebble Partnership says the new plan is sufficient to protect Bristol Bay’s pristine watershed and salmon resources, the onus is on them to demonstrate the validity of that claim,” Kupfer said. “The Corps should facilitate that transparency by ensuring the public can review any mitigation plan before it's approved.”
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