WASHINGTON, DC – ConservAmerica issued the following statement today on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ rejection of the proposed Pebble gold and copper mine in Alaska over environmental concerns.

“The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ rejection of the proposed Pebble project is appropriate given the size of the deposit and its location near the headwaters of the Bristol Bay fishery,” ConservAmerica spokesman Robert Dillon said. “ConservAmerica supports the responsible development of our nation’s natural resources, but some projects pose unacceptable levels of risk to be in the public interest – Pebble was such a project. The Trump administration was correct in allowing the federal review process to run its course without political interference, but today’s decision provides certainty for both the people of the region and the project’s proponents.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – ConservAmerica President Jeff Kupfer this week called on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to publicly release a new Clean Water Act mitigation plan submitted by the partnership seeking to develop a massive gold and copper mine near the headwaters of Alaska’s Bristol Bay.

In a letter to Lt. Gen. Scott Spellmon, Kupfer argued that the Corps is required by regulation to provide a meaningful opportunity for public comment on proposed mitigation plan submitted by the Pebble Limited Partnership. “Given the public’s heightened concern regarding this project and the potential for permanent destruction of essential water resources, we believe it is incumbent upon the Corps to release this plan to the American people without delay,” Kupfer wrote.

WASHINGTON, DC – The mitigation requirements set out today in a letter from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to the developers of the proposed Pebble mine are appropriately stringent and set a high bar for development given the massive scale of the project and its sensitive location at the headwaters of Alaska’s Bristol Bay watershed, said ConservAmerica General Counsel Brent Fewell.