OPINION: Alaskans want to see Bristol Bay protected forever

When it comes to Bristol Bay, Alaskans have always been clear: across parties and regions, support for protecting our thriving fishery continues to be strong. Yet Gov. Mike Dunleavy continues to use the state of Alaska’s limited resources to carry water for a mining project Alaskans do not want, and the Trump administration refused to permit. The governor should instead be listening to Alaskans.

Just a few weeks ago, Gov. Dunleavy filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Supreme Court challenging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Water Act protections at the Pebble deposit in the Bristol Bay watershed. These protections were finalized after a decade of scientific study, numerous hearings, and millions of public comments submitted in support of protecting Bristol Bay. EPA’s action also followed the Trump administration’s denial of Pebble’s major federal Clean Water Act permit application, citing “significant degradation of fishery resources.” After failing to green-light the mine in the regulatory process, Gov. Dunleavy is now seeking to undermine the protections that the majority of Alaskans have demanded for the past 20 years.

I wish I could say this lawsuit came as a surprise. Unfortunately, many of us were expecting Northern Dynasty Minerals — the company behind the Pebble mine — and its allies in the state government to pull every last lever to save this dying project. This company has a long history of misleading the public, their shareholders, and the government, and has proven over and over again, they will do and say anything, regardless of the truth, to try to push the toxic project forward.

The science is clear that the Pebble mine cannot be built in Bristol Bay without damaging its irreplaceable resources. This is exactly why the project’s permit was denied and the EPA protections put in place, not because of the governor’s false narrative that the EPA exercised “unbridled and unlawful power to choke off any further discussion on this important decision affecting so many Alaskans.” This statement couldn’t be further from the truth.

If Gov. Dunleavy would listen to Alaskans on this issue, he would not be spending state dollars in an attempt to reverse protections for Bristol Bay. The reality is his lawsuit is completely out of line with what Alaskans want. New polling shows a strong majority of Alaskans are concerned about protecting all of Bristol Bay from all large-scale mining — especially the Pebble mine — for the long term.

After two decades of fighting the Pebble mine, the majority of Alaskans are still standing strong in support of protecting Bristol Bay permanently. When the EPA finalized the Clean Water Act protections for the region in late January and finally protected Bristol Bay from the threat of Pebble mine, the decision was widely celebrated by people from all across Alaska and the nation — including local tribes, Alaska Native corporations, commercial fishermen, sportsmen, businesses, chefs, and many others. Support for protecting Bristol Bay’s waters — and the people, salmon and economy it supports — spans age, gender, political party and all regions of the state. And it’s now more evident than ever that this support continues to grow as the threats against Bristol Bay persist.

Northern Dynasty and the governor have made it clear that the attacks on Bristol Bay won’t stop until our leaders step in and take action. We are calling on our elected officials to listen to the majority of Alaskans and pass legislation that permanently protects the entire Bristol Bay watershed from the Pebble mine and the more than 20 active mining claims in the watershed that still threaten the region.

Alannah Hurley is the executive director of the United Tribes of Bristol Bay.

The views expressed here are the writer’s and are not necessarily endorsed by the Anchorage Daily News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)adn.com. Send submissions shorter than 200 words to letters@adn.com or click here to submit via any web browser. Read our full guidelines for letters and commentaries here.