EcoWatch
Facebook 558k Twitter 222k Instagram 52k Subscribe Subscribe
  • Climate
  • Energy
  • Conservation
  • Food + Agriculture
  • Renewables
  • Oceans
  • Policy
  • Insights + Opinion
  • Go Solar Today
      • Top Companies By State
        • California Solar Companies
        • Texas Solar Companies
        • New York Solar Companies
        • Florida Solar Companies
        • See All States
      • Top Incentives By State
        • California Solar Incentives
        • Texas Solar Incentives
        • New York Solar Incentives
        • Florida Solar Incentives
        • See All States
      • Solar Panel Costs By State
        • Solar Panel Costs in California
        • Solar Panel Costs in Texas
        • Solar Panel Costs in New York
        • Solar Panel Costs in Florida
        • See All States
      • Value of Solar by State
        • Is Solar Worth It In California?
        • Is Solar Worth It in Texas?
        • Is Solar Worth It New York?
        • Is Solar Worth It In Florida?
        • See All States
      • Company Reviews
        • Tesla Solar Review
        • Sunrun Solar Review
        • SunPower Solar Review
        • Vivint Solar Review
        • See All Companies
      • Common Solar Questions
        • Can You Get Free Solar Panels?
        • Does Solar Increase Home Value?
        • What’re The Best Solar Batteries?
        • Can You Finance Solar?
        • Where To Buy Solar Panels?
        • Payback On Solar Panels?
      • Solar Resources
        • Interactive Solar Calculator
        • Federal Solar Tax Credit
        • Best Solar Panels For Most Homes
        • Tesla Solar Roof Review
        • Cheapest Solar Panels
      • Companies Compared
        • SunPower vs Tesla Solar
        • SunRun vs Tesla Solar
        • SunRun vs SunPower
        • SunPower vs Momentum Solar
        • SunPower vs ADT Solar
EcoWatch
  • Climate
  • Energy
  • Conservation
  • Food + Agriculture
  • Renewables
  • Oceans
  • Policy
  • Insights + Opinion
  • Go Solar Today
    • Go Solar Today
    • Top Companies By State
      • California Solar Companies
      • Texas Solar Companies
      • New York Solar Companies
      • Florida Solar Companies
      • See All States
    • Top Incentives By State
      • California Solar Incentives
      • Texas Solar Incentives
      • New York Solar Incentives
      • Florida Solar Incentives
      • See All States
    • Solar Panel Costs By State
      • Solar Panel Costs in California
      • Solar Panel Costs in Texas
      • Solar Panel Costs in New York
      • Solar Panel Costs in Florida
      • See All States
    • Value of Solar by State
      • Is Solar Worth It In California?
      • Is Solar Worth It in Texas?
      • Is Solar Worth It New York?
      • Is Solar Worth It In Florida?
      • See All States
    • Company Reviews
      • Tesla Solar Review
      • Sunrun Solar Review
      • SunPower Solar Review
      • Vivint Solar Review
      • See All Companies
    • Common Solar Questions
      • Can You Get Free Solar Panels?
      • Does Solar Increase Home Value?
      • What’re The Best Solar Batteries?
      • Can You Finance Solar?
      • Where To Buy Solar Panels?
      • Payback On Solar Panels?
    • Solar Resources
      • Interactive Solar Calculator
      • Federal Solar Tax Credit
      • Best Solar Panels For Most Homes
      • Tesla Solar Roof Review
      • Cheapest Solar Panels
    • Companies Compared
      • SunPower vs Tesla Solar
      • SunRun vs Tesla Solar
      • SunRun vs SunPower
      • SunPower vs Momentum Solar
      • SunPower vs ADT Solar

The best of EcoWatch right in your inbox. Sign up for our email newsletter!

    • About EcoWatch
    • Contact EcoWatch
    • Terms of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Learn About Solar Energy
    Facebook 558k Twitter 222k Instagram 52k
    EcoWatch
    • About EcoWatch
    • Contact EcoWatch
    • Terms of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Learn About Solar Energy
    Facebook 558k Twitter 222k Instagram 52k
    Home Policy

    Biden’s EPA Protects Alaska’s Bristol Bay From Controversial Pebble Mine

    By: Olivia Rosane
    Published: January 31, 2023
    Edited by Chris McDermott
    Facebook icon Twitter icon Pinterest icon Email icon
    The Bristol Bay watershed in Alaska
    The Bristol Bay watershed in Alaska. EPA
    Why you can trust us

    Founded in 2005 as an Ohio-based environmental newspaper, EcoWatch is a digital platform dedicated to publishing quality, science-based content on environmental issues, causes, and solutions.

    Facebook icon Twitter icon Pinterest icon Email icon

    The watershed of Bristol Bay, Alaska, is home to the largest wild sockeye salmon fishery in the world. 

    But for decades a threat has loomed over the streams and rivers that provide spawning grounds for the salmon and habitat for other aquatic species: the planned Pebble gold and copper mine that would clog those waters with waste. Now, however, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has moved to protect those waters from future mining discharge with a little-used authority under the Clean Water Act (CWA).

    “This is the final nail in the coffin for the Pebble Mine,” Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash) told The Washington Post.

    Bristol Bay watershed is the most productive wild salmon ecosystem in the world. 🐟

    EPA is taking action to protect this one-of-a-kind ecosystem by limiting the disposal of dredged and fill material associated with developing the Pebble deposit.

    ➡️https://t.co/JSanGDrrMU pic.twitter.com/QUpuJlY9nD

    — U.S. EPA (@EPA) January 31, 2023

    In an announcement Tuesday, the EPA issued a Final Determination preventing the discharge of dredged or fill materials from the proposed mine — or any future development — into parts of the South Fork Koktuli River and North Fork Koktuli River watershed. This is the third time in three decades that the EPA has taken advantage of this particular CWA authority. 

    More From EcoWatch
    • Is Solar Worth It in Alaska? (2023 Homeowner’s Guide)
    • What Happens When There’s Snow on Solar Panels?
    • 2023 Solar Tax Credit Calculator – Inflation Reduction Act

    “After reviewing the extensive scientific and technical record spanning two decades, EPA has determined that specific discharges associated with developing the Pebble deposit will have unacceptable and adverse effects on certain salmon fishery areas in the Bristol Bay watershed,” EPA Assistant Administrator for Water Radhika Fox said in the announcement. “Our Final Determination helps prevent those adverse effects while helping protect a vibrant and magnificent watershed.”

    Bristol Bay is a biodiversity haven for 29 fish species — including all five species of Pacific salmon — and more than 40 terrestrial mammals and more than 190 species of birds. Its salmon provide 15,000 jobs a year and generated $2.2 billion in 2019. The salmon are also extremely important culturally and dietarily for the 25 Alaska Native villages in the area. For some of these communities, the salmon provides more than half of their subsistence foods. 

    While some Indigenous groups in Alaska supported the mine for economic reasons, the Tribes living around the bay itself vehemently opposed it, despite being told it was a wasted effort, The New York Times reported. 

    “Thank goodness our tribal leaders did not accept that,” United Tribes of Bristol Bay Executive Director Alannah Hurley told The New York Times. “We’ll be celebrating this decision for decades to come.”

    She added that Tuesday’s decision “was a real moment of justice for us.”

    Great news for Bristol Bay – the EPA finalized protections that will stop Pebble! Quyana/chin’an @epagov – and quyana/chin’an to everyone who made their voice heard in this decades-long battle!

    Read more: https://t.co/Fuq3PAGFZT#protectbristolbay pic.twitter.com/jSLBzK9Xqf

    — United Tribes of Bristol Bay (@UnitedTribes_BB) January 31, 2023

    The Pebble mine project was first put forward in the early 2000s and gained support from Republican Alaska politicians. However, the EPA under former President Barack Obama moved to block it. Under former President Donald Trump, the EPA reversed its earlier ruling, but the United States Army Corps of Engineers still denied it an important permit. While some Alaska lawmakers have continued to back it, other regional leaders, like Washington’s Cantwell, have opposed it because of its threat to the regionally important salmon. 

    Pebble Limited is currently appealing the Army Corp’s 2020 decision, as The Washington Post reported. In response to the EPA’s latest move, the mining industry argued that mineral resources are necessary for the energy transition. 

    “This end-run of the proper permitting process creates significant regulatory uncertainty for the mining industry during a crisis point for minerals demand,” the National Mining Association said in a statement reported by The Washington Post.

    However, environmental groups have praised the decision. 

    “We are so excited that the Biden administration has fulfilled their campaign promise to provide protections for Bristol Bay,” Environment American Public Lands Director Ellen Montgomery said in a statement emailed to EcoWatch. “Around the world, we are losing the equivalent of a football field worth of nature every minute. With this decision, thankfully, the headwaters of Bristol Bay won’t be added to that tally.”

    The EPA’s Bristol Bay decision is the latest in a series of decisions to protect ecologically sensitive areas from extractive industries. It comes a week after it moved to prevent logging in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest and mining in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Area Watershed.

    Subscribe to get exclusive updates in our daily newsletter!

      By signing up, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, and to receive electronic communications from EcoWatch Media Group, which may include marketing promotions, advertisements and sponsored content.

      Olivia Rosane

      Olivia Rosane is an environmental journalist with a decade’s worth of experience. She has been contributing to EcoWatch since 2018 and has also covered environmental themes for Common Dreams, Atmos, Rewilding, Seattle Met, Treehugger, The Trouble, YES! Magazine and Real Life. She holds a Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Cambridge and a master’s in Art and Politics from Goldsmiths, University of London.
      Facebook icon Twitter icon Pinterest icon Email icon

      Read More

      Iroquois Valley: Investing in Farmers Transitioning to Organic, Regenerative Agriculture
      As more people are starting to realize — and as
      By Cristen Hemingway Jaynes
      Low River Levels in UK Raise Concerns of Drought
      Extremely low river levels in the UK recently have experts
      By Paige Bennett
      Record Number of River Barriers Removed in Europe in 2024: Report
      European countries dismantled a record 542 dams, culverts, weirs and
      By Cristen Hemingway Jaynes

      Subscribe to get exclusive updates in our daily newsletter!

        By signing up, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, and to receive electronic communications from EcoWatch Media Group, which may include marketing promotions, advertisements and sponsored content.

        Latest Articles

        • Iroquois Valley: Investing in Farmers Transitioning to Organic, Regenerative Agriculture
          by Cristen Hemingway Jaynes
          May 16, 2025
        • Global Hunger Rises for 6th Consecutive Year in a ‘World Dangerously off Course’: UN Report
          by Cristen Hemingway Jaynes
          May 16, 2025
        • Low River Levels in UK Raise Concerns of Drought
          by Paige Bennett
          May 16, 2025
        • Record Number of River Barriers Removed in Europe in 2024: Report
          by Cristen Hemingway Jaynes
          May 16, 2025
        • China’s CO2 Emissions Fall for the First Time Despite Rising Power Demand, Signaling Possible Peak
          by Cristen Hemingway Jaynes
          May 16, 2025
        • New Project Will Reintroduce Elk to UK for the First Time in 3,000 Years
          by Paige Bennett
          May 15, 2025
        • Protecting the World’s Seagrass Meadows Could Prevent Billions in Damages, New Research Suggests
          by Cristen Hemingway Jaynes
          May 15, 2025
        • European Companies Increasingly Support Strong Climate Action: Report
          by Cristen Hemingway Jaynes
          May 15, 2025
        EcoWatch

        The best of EcoWatch right in your inbox. Sign up for our email newsletter!

          • Climate Climate
          • Animals Animals
          • Health + Wellness Health + Wellness
          • Insights + Opinion Insights + Opinion
          • Adventure Adventure
          • Oceans Oceans
          • Business Business
          • Solar Solar
          • About EcoWatch
          • Contact EcoWatch
          • EcoWatch Reviews
          • Terms of Use
          • Privacy Policy
          • Learn About Solar Energy
          • Learn About Deregulated Energy
          • EcoWatch UK
          Follow Us
          Facebook 558k
          Twitter 222k
          Instagram 52k
          Subscribe Subscribe

          Experts for a healthier planet and life.

          Mentioned by:
          Learn more
          • Privacy Policy
          • Terms of Use
          • Cookie Preferences
          • Do Not Sell My Information
          © 2025 EcoWatch. All Rights Reserved.

          Advertiser Disclosure

          Our editorial team is committed to creating independent and objective content focused on helping our readers make informed decisions. To help support these efforts we receive compensation from companies that advertise with us.

          The compensation we receive from these companies may impact how and where products appear on this site. This compensation does not influence the recommendations or advice our editorial team provides within our content. We do not include all companies, products or offers that may be available.