Trump EPA brings Pebble Mine (a disaster for Alaska) back from the dead

In 2014, the Obama administration determined that the massive proposed Pebble Mine would irrevocably damage Alaska’s Bristol Bay and its prolific salmon runs—and then rightfully proposed restrictions on the project using its authority under the Clean Water Act. But now, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is reversing course, opting to withdraw protections for Bristol Bay and hand over the authority to approve the mine to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The move (a political one, no doubt) throws a lifeline to the project’s owner, Northern Dynasty Minerals, and flies in the face of the nearly one million public comments submitted in 2017 that support the rejection of the open-pit gold and copper mine. The good news: The fight to save Bristol Bay, now a decade in the making, is far from a done-deal and will continue to play out in the courts.