Pebble Mine Public Comment Period Open

In December 2017, the Pebble Limited Partnership applied for a major federal (dredge and fill) permit needed to mine in Bristol Bay. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the lead federal agency responsible for reviewing the permit application, and recently published their draft environmental impact statement or EIS. The Draft EIS is intended to disclose the likely impacts from the proposed project and to offer the public, tribes, and governmental agencies a chance to review and comment on the proposed project. Stakeholders and the public have until May 30, 2019 to submit comments about the Draft EIS and the proposed project. This is the last public comment period in the USACE permitting process. 

Among other concerns, the BBRSDA is alarmed at the lack of analysis involving a tailing dam failure at the proposed mine site. It was clear from the project's scoping period that this aspect would not be included in the Draft EIS and so the BBRSDA commissioned a research project to model the expected effects of such an event. This analysis, which is based on a regression of nearly 30 actual tailings dam failures from around the world, indicates an expected tailings dam failure at the Pebble Mine would be roughly 10,000 times larger than the scenario included in the Draft EIS. As a result, damage to downstream salmon habitat would be far greater than the limited scenario considered by the USACE. A written report and video presentation about a potential Pebble Mine tailings dam failure are available on our Project Reports page (click here). 

BBRSDA encourages the fleet to submit comments to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. This is a critical moment for the fishery. It is important that stakeholder comments are part of the historical record. Comments should clearly indicate support or opposition for the proposed mine project, and may cite specific concerns with aspects of the Draft EIS. You can read the Pebble Mine Draft EIS by clicking HERE, and submit a public comment electronically to the USACE by clicking HERE.