Pebble Mine denied permit

Liz Ruskin/Alaska Public Media

The  U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has denied a permit for the proposed Pebble Mine, a project that fishermen and tribes in the Bristol Bay region have been fighting for more than a decade.

The Corps says it determined that Pebble’s plan does not comply with Clean Water Act guidelines and that the project is not in the public interest.

Pebble Limited Partnership says it’s not giving up on the project, which would have been one of North America’s largest open-pit mines

.The company says it’s focusing on a possible appeal of the agency’s decision.

For now, though, the decision appears to be a death blow for the mine. The incoming Biden administration is likely to oppose the project, as the Obama administration did.

The decision thrills the coalition of conservationists, Native organizations and fishermen that say the mine would threaten the salmon-rich streams that feed Bristol Bay.