Ad in Politico Offers 66 Million Reasons to Veto Pebble Mine

The ad builds on past media campaigns urging the Biden administration and EPA to finalize 404(c) Clean Water Act protections by the 2022 fishing season. 

In Bristol Bay, salmon are integral to life. Salmon have sustained Bristol Bay’s indigenous communities for thousands of years., providing not only food and a subsistence-based livelihood, but a foundation for language, spirituality, and social structure. 

Bristol Bay is the world’s most valuable salmon fishery, generating $2.2 billion in annual economic activity, supporting 15,000 jobs, and supplying 57% of the world’s wild sockeye. As the ad highlighted, a record-breaking 66 million sockeye salmon returned to Bristol Bay in 2021.   

The forecast for next season is even bigger: a whopping 73.4 million sockeye are projected to return to Bristol Bay in 2022.  

Yet the region remains at risk from the ongoing threat of the Pebble Mine—a giant gold and copper mine proposed at the headwaters of Bristol Bay’s famed salmon runs.  

EPA has the authority under Section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act to stop the Pebble Mine and permanently protect Bristol Bay. 

The 2021 record-setting salmon run and record-shattering 2022 prediction serve as poignant reminders that EPA must act swiftly to save Bristol Bay’s legendary salmon runs from large-scale mining like the Pebble Mine.  

Tell EPA to act NOW.