Pebble Mine has been stopped, likely for good. The debate around the mine has consumed Bristol Bay for more than a decade. Now the people who live here…
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A defining year for Pebble mine December 31st, 2020 |
It was a momentous year for people who have fought for and against the proposed Pebble mine.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in November denied Pebble s request for a federal permit, stopping the mine likely for good. The decision was met with mixed emotions from people in Bristol Bay.
Sue Anelon works for the Iliamna Development Corporation. She said the mine would have been a significant boost to village economies. I ve seen the good and the bad, she said. When Pebble was here and a lot of people were working, they were paying for their own groceries, they were paying their own fuel. They were buying trucks, they were buying Hondas. People were paying for things. Now they can t do that. They have to rely on the government.
A look at an eventful year for the proposed Pebble Mine from compensatory mitigation to the Pebble Tapes to the likely end of the project, as part of KDLG s Year in Review 2020 series.
Over the summer, the Pebble Limited Partnership set up two camps along the Koktuli River to conduct wetlands studies about 27 miles away from its base camp at the proposed mine site. Aug. 4, 2020.
Credit ALASKA DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND GAME STAFF
It was a momentous year for people who have fought for and against the proposed Pebble Mine.
Sue Anelon works for the Iliamna Development Corporation. She said the mine would have been a significant boost to village economies.
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When the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers denied the Pebble Limited Partnership a federal permit to develop a mine under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, it surprised people on both sides of the issue.
“I was ecstatic. I was elated. I was so happy to hear that it was finally over,” said Billy Trefon Jr. from Nondalton, one of the villages closest to where the mine would have been built.
To the south, in Iliamna, Lisa Reimers, the CEO of Iliamna Development Corporation, said people feel hopeless.
Well, we feel like it was we were lied to by the Army Corps because they said politics wouldn’t be involved. And it ended up being politics, she said. The Army stated they’d recommend to build a mine, then out of nowhere they changed their minds.”