Another Blow Against the Pebble Mine

It is the resource extraction project that will not die, the zombie Pebble Open Cast mine at the headwaters of Alaska's Bristol Bay. [photo] The EPA once proposed regulatory restriction that would have killed the gold and copper mine, but thanks to the Antichrist In Office, the EPA dropped the rule changes to settle a lawsuit. The conservationists trying to protect the clean water and salmon runs amounting to a $1.5 billion dollar industry shifted focus to defunding the project. NRDC reports that the global investment bank, Morgan Stanley sold off all of its shares in Northern Dynasty Minerals, the Canadian company behind the mine project. International objections to the mine have convinced four multinational mining companies to abandon the project, leaving Northern Dynasty as the sole backer. The company, which is increasingly short on cash, has intensified its search for new partners and applied for a new government permit.

A major reversal of policy by the regime in August gave new hope to environmentalists that the project is, indeed, dead. In August, the regime decided the proposed project "cannot be permitted" in its current form.  The Army Corps of Engineers devised a series of strict restrictions intended to offset anticipated environmental harms to the sockeye fishery, the world's largest.  Significantly, conservative figures inside the regime and in the recreation industry began to speak against the project; these apparently included 'Mini Me' Trump Jr. who has sport-fished in the area. The mitigation required by the Corps may not be possible because the watershed is considered pristine, and that is how the project would be effectively killed. Nevertheless Northern Dynasty continues to insist that the mitigation requirements are not a "show-stopper".  It will submit a final  management plan that the company says will meet all Corps requirements.