Goodbye Verner, Fearless Fighter Against the Pebble Mine

In contentious, multi-decade environmental battles, it’s inevitable that the duration of a fight will sometimes exceed the lifetime of its founding leaders. But it is shocking to lose younger colleagues or partners whose promise lies, when necessary, in their potential to carry on the battle into and on behalf of the next generation. Tragically and unexpectedly, that is precisely what happened last month when longtime Pebble Mine opponent Verner Wilson III died suddenly at the far too young age of 36 years. 

Because the Bristol Bay tribal community of which he was a part has overwhelmingly opposed the destructive Pebble Mine for almost two decades, it is no exaggeration to say that Verner lived under the shadow of that reckless scheme for most of his life. With his family in Dillingham, Alaska, in the heart of the Bristol Bay region, he grew up fighting it, and he continued the fight until his final days—not as a casual part-time activity but as a professional vocation and personal passion.

Verner was a devoted environmental advocate, trained in the discipline and deeply engaged in regional efforts to address a wide range of threats to Bristol Bay’s lands, waters, and world class fisheries. He earned a degree in environmental studies from Brown University in 2008 and attended graduate school at Yale University, studying environmental management.  He eventually worked for a number of environmental and regional advocacy organizations, including the Bristol Bay Native Association, World Wildlife Fund, and Friends of the Earth.  In each of these roles the battle against the Pebble Mine was a constant presence. 

He understood the existential threat posed by that project to his community, his family, and, more broadly, to our future.  Despite his youth, he was fearless in his efforts to stop it.  He valued and was renowned for his role as a tribal leader of the younger generation in Bristol Bay.  Indeed, he was compelled by the threat that this project uniquely posed not just today but as long as its potential viability hangs like a dark cloud over the region.  

In February 2014, Verner sent an email quoting from a piece he’d written for the Alaska Dispatch on the role of young people in the fight against Pebble and declaring his love for Bristol Bay:

“'This Valentines Day, I profess my love to Bristol Bay' haha. I am truly inspired by all the youth and members of the younger generation who have stepped up, as well as our elders. I hope this piece in the Alaska Dispatch today captured some of that. Thank you all for the work you do!" 

As family and friends who knew him his entire life can attest, Verner had a huge, open heart and a smile to match, an enthusiasm for life, unabashed courage in speaking his mind, and a selfless determination to do good—for his community and the environment that sustains it.   

At the Natural Resources Defense Council (“NRDC”), my colleague Taryn Kiekow Heimer and I had the privilege of working with Verner against the Pebble Mine over the past 14 years—in the administrative processes of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and the Army Corps of Engineers and in the boardrooms of major mining companies promoting the project. He frequently let us know how much he appreciated NRDC’s support against Pebble over the years, and today I recall in particular our collaborations in London and Toronto,  between 2010 and 2018, at mining company shareholder meetings or in private discussions with top executives of Pebble’s global partners.

Here are just three illustrative examples:

First: In early April 2010, because of prolonged eruptions from the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull, air travel from the United States to London was interrupted during the time scheduled for Anglo American’s general annual meeting (“AGM”) of shareholders.  As a result, NRDC was unable to get to London to deliver over a hundred thousand petitions from our members in opposition to the Pebble Mine to then-CEO of Anglo American Cynthia Carroll.  Because Verner happened already to be in Europe, he volunteered to receive the petitions by email, print them out, travel to London by train, attend the shareholders meeting, and personally deliver them to Carroll.  And he did.

Second: In April 2013, now working for WWF, Verner travelled again to London, joining with NRDC and a small delegation of Bristol Bay leaders to attend and testify at the AGM’s of Anglo American and Rio Tinto.  Both companies had new CEO’s—Sam Walsh at Rio and Mark Cutifani at Anglo—who, for a change, seemed genuinely interested in what the delegation had to say, including in an encouraging private meeting with Walsh and his executive team at their offices the day before the AGM.  In that meeting, unintimidated by the rarified corporate setting and wearing a seal skin vest, Verner told his personal story and calmly conveyed the determination of young people in the Bristol Bay region to carry on the fight against the Pebble Mine for as long as necessary to stop it. 

Following the AGMs, Bobby Andrew of Nunamta Aulukestai, Jason Metrokin of Bristol Bay Native Corporation, Verner, and I met for an upbeat dinner and a walk around crowded central London.  Within months, in September 2013, Anglo announced its abandonment of the project, and in April 2014 Rio did the same, sealing the demise of Pebble’s once formidable mining partnership.  Only Northern Dynasty remained, the solitary owner of 100 percent of the increasingly troubled Pebble prospect.

Third: In 2017, however, the project got a jolt of new life. In early May 2018, with Donald Trump in the White House, Northern Dynasty’s prospects (and share price) on the rise, and a $1.5 billion partnership deal all but signed between Northern Dynasty and international mining company First Quantum Minerals, NRDC led an even larger group of Bristol Bay leaders to Toronto to attend that company’s AGM and present a quarter of a million petitions urging First Quantum to walk away.  Those leaders included representatives from the Bristol Bay Native Corporation, United Tribes of Bristol Bay, Bristol Bay Native Association, Bristol Bay Economic Development Corporation, Salmon State, Earthworks, Sea to Table, and Friends of the Earth, represented by Verner. 

In a tense post-AGM lunch meeting with First Quantum’s CEO Philip Pascal and several members of its board of directors, Verner—again wearing his seal skin vest—joined in delivering Bristol Bay’s unified message of present and future unrelenting opposition if, over the objections of the region’s residents, First Quantum chose to join the Pebble project.  His credentials from Brown and Yale were noticed:  Perhaps hoping to show that his studies were irrelevant to the technical details of mining, one of the board members interrupted Verner to ask what he was studying at Yale.  He easily cut off the inquiry with two words: “Environmental management”—and, after a brief silence, he continued his remarks. 

Three weeks later, instead of finalizing the expected partnership agreement, Northern Dynasty announced that its discussions with First Quantum had been terminated—undeniably a devastating financial blow to Pebble that it was unable to prevent and from which it has never recovered.

It is something to be grateful for that Verner lived to see and enjoy the success of his work against the Pebble Mine when, on January 31, 2023—just two months before his death—EPA issued at last a Final Determination vetoing the Pebble Mine.  He was an important voice in the broad-based, decades-long advocacy that compelled this rare achievement in the history of the Clean Water Act.

But we all understand, as Verner did, that the battle isn’t over.  In fact, his congratulatory message to coalition partners on January 31^st made that very point: 

"Let’s celebrate a great milestone but let’s also not forget it ain’t over…great day all!" 

The battle for Bristol Bay will continue until Congress enacts federal legislation, promised by Alaska’s Senior Senator Lisa Murkowski, to guarantee permanent protection for Bristol Bay and its watershed.  While Verner is no longer here to see that final step, he will always have a part in it, because he also understood—and he demonstrated—that stopping the Pebble Mine isn’t the responsibility of any single generation but of generations to come, for as long as it takes.

Those of us at NRDC who knew and worked with Verner Wilson are shaken and deeply saddened by his sudden loss.  We will never know what he might have accomplished with more time.  But we are grateful for all that he did, and we will never forget him—his youthful enthusiasm, his good heart, his courage, and his passionate dedication to ensuring a sustainable environmental future for the people of Bristol Bay and all Alaskans.