Earlier this week, the Environmental Investigation Agency released physical, video evidence of the corrupt scheme that is Pebble Mine. These tapes prove what Bristol Bay advocates have been saying all along, expansion is inevitable and would further destroy Bristol Bay. Further, the tapes highlight the true intentions of the executives at Pebble Limited Partnership and Northern Dynasty Minerals, the companies backing Pebble Mine.

“It makes expansion much easier,” said Pebble Limited Partnership CEO Tom Collier, despite him testifying to Congress that there would be no expansion. This is corruption at its simplest form. And this is the threat to Bristol Bay, the world’s largest Sockeye salmon fishery, 14,000 jobs including commercial fishermen, and dozens of native tribes. To make matters more serious, these executives taunted their clout with several of Alaska’s elected officials, including Governor Dunleavy. The rest of the tapes can be viewed here.

“Tom Collier is a fall guy for a project that is fundamentally flawed and has essentially been a flimflam operation from the very beginning. From the beginning, it has been an exercise in obfuscation,” said Trout Unlimited President Chris Wood.

The House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee responded to the tapes.

Nelli Williams, Alaska director of Trout Unlimited had this to say: “Every single Alaskan should be livid. These interviews demonstrate in no uncertain terms that the Pebble Partnership and Northern Dynasty Minerals have been dishonest about their true intentions. The companies put forward a fictitious proposal to the Army Corps of Engineers. Their statements contradict their own permit application, falsely representing their project, and therefore call into question the validity of the entire application and the credibility of its review. Mr. Collier’s resignation does nothing to change any of this. We are calling for an immediate rejection of PLP’s permit application because it is fraudulent. A full investigation by Congress is absolutely necessary – Alaskans and Americans deserve to know the truth. The process has been undermined by the actions of a foreign-owned company and that needs to be called out.”

The fight to protect Bristol Bay and its sustainable ecosystem is not over–despite ominous, open ended tweets by President Trump. The fights to protect in-tact ecosystems like Bristol Bay, Bears Ear National Monument, Tongass National Forest, Boundary Waters Canoe Area, and the Everglades will persist–and they must–as long as men like Collier seek to undercut environmental laws for their personal gain.

To take action to ask Members of Congress to investigate Northern Dynasty Minerals’ misleading and fraudulent statements on the Pebble mine proposal, and urge the Army Corps to deny the permit proposal that threatens the Bristol Bay region of Alaska click here.

Cover picture courtesy of @FlyoutMedia

 


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