Fishermen React to Pebble Mitigation Plan

Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay has issued the following statement, regarding the Pebble Mine’s recently submitted compensatory mitigation plan:

Bristol Bay fishermen call foul on Pebble Limited Partnership’s compensatory mitigation plan; Pebble Mine’s damage to fishery habitat cannot be mitigated
Fishermen ask lawmakers to support Clean Water Act protections for Bristol Bay

DILLINGHAM, AK - Today, the Pebble Limited Partnership submitted their Compensatory Mitigation Plan to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, signaling that the Pebble Mine federal permitting process is moving forward. The Army Corps has said that it will not hold a public comment period for Pebble’s compensatory mitigation plan despite numerous Bristol Bay stakeholder requests and despite having held a public comment period for the Donlin Mine’s mitigation plan.

“Any compensatory mitigation plan based on Pebble’s incomplete and inaccurate Final Environmental Impact Statement is inherently flawed. Pebble has only been asked to mitigate for the impacts of a 20-year mine plan, which the Pebble Tapes revealed to be no more than a permitting strategy.” said Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay Director, Katherine Carscallen. “The fact is, there is no measure of mitigation that could make up for the permanent destruction of water and wetlands that the Pebble Mine would cause to Bristol Bay’s pristine, intact, and irreplaceable salmon habitat.”

“Allowing Pebble’s permitting process to advance - and without public input - is just more evidence that the Army Corps is not looking out for Bristol Bay’s fishermen and communities. Instead, the federal government is continuing to waste taxpayer dollars and set a dangerous precedent by allowing this corrupted and compromised permitting process to move forward. That is why Bristol Bay’s fishermen, communities, and others cannot and will not rest until the EPA takes action under the Clean Water Act to veto the Pebble Mine and secure full, durable protections for Bristol Bay. We need our lawmakers to ensure that the EPA is allowed to do its job and initiate a Clean Water Act 404(c) process based on the Army Corps’ own conclusion that the Pebble Mine would cause substantial environmental impacts in the Bristol Bay watershed.”

###

Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay is a national coalition of fishermen working to protect Bristol Bay, Alaska and the 14,000 jobs, $500 million in annual income, and $1.5 billion in economic activity that Bristol Bay’s wild salmon provide.