Lawmakers join fight over Pebble mine transport route

July 07, 2020

A trio of Democratic lawmakers last week joined a chorus of tribal and fishing groups raising concerns about the transportation route selected in the Pebble mine plan.

The Army Corps of Engineers Alaska District in May announced the least environmentally damaging practicable alternative (LEDPA). It includes a route north of Iliamna Lake leading to a port at Diamond Point where minerals from the proposed Pebble copper-gold mine can be shipped out.

The selection came as a surprise to groups that have more heavily scrutinized the mining application's first alternative, which involved transporting ore on an icebreaking ferry across the lake.

"It is troubling that the preferred alternative was recently changed from the southern ferry route to the northern road-only transportation corridor from the mine site to the port with little notice to the public," California Democratic Reps. Jared Huffman, Alan Lowenthal and Mike Levin wrote in a letter to Army Corps leaders last week.

The lawmakers, all members of the House Natural Resources Committee, asked Col. David Hibner, acting commander of the Alaska District, and Rickey James, assistant secretary of the Army for civil works, to answer questions local groups have been posing for weeks.

The northern route has numerous problems in addition to being an unexpected choice, Bristol Bay Native Corp. Vice President of Lands Dan Cheyette said.

It crosses private property owned by entities including BBNC, which Cheyette said will not allow Pebble "to occupy or trespass."

The path can accommodate a 78-year mine plan, something Pebble opponents fear could allow the mine to operate longer than the current 20-year proposal.

And the route poses a major threat to vast wetlands and streams where salmon spawn north of Iliamna Lake, Alaska's largest body of fresh water.

"As it stands now, the corps is barreling towards a record of decision based on a project application that is significantly different than the focus of the preliminary final environmental impact statement," Cheyette said after the LEDPA's announcement.

Alaska District regulatory chief David Hobbie countered the claim that the public has not had opportunity to vet the northern route. Each component of the LEDPA has been evaluated in the review process, he said in May (E&E News PM, May 22).

Wetland impacts

Wildlife habitat destruction along the northern corridor will be considerable, according to the Bristol Bay watershed assessment. EPA published that document in 2014 along with a proposed determination blocking large-scale mining upstream from the world's most prolific sockeye salmon fishery.

The assessment weighed hypothetical mining scenarios for the site of the Pebble deposit. But EPA rescinded the proposed determination last year and called the scenarios "outdated" (E&E News PM, July 30, 2019).

Critics now argue part of the assessment is up to date because it examined the potential impact of a transportation corridor similar to the one in the current preferred alternative: a route north of Iliamna Lake.

"The transportation corridor would cross approximately 64 streams and rivers," the assessment says. "These habitats are important spawning areas for sockeye salmon, putting sockeye particularly at risk from the road."

The LEDPA selection also surprised Pebble CEO Tom Collier. He thought the Army Corps would choose the ferry route, he said in a recent interview.

Collier drove Pebble's internal process to pick the ferry route as its top choice even though the northern route was more practical from a mining and engineering standpoint, he said.

"I pushed the ferry route into our preferred option because it reduced the wetlands impact by 30%," Collier said. "To me, that was significant. I was designing a project to be as environmentally sensitive as I could."

Now, Collier said, he is fully on board with the Army Corps' decision.

He noted the potential to disrupt wildlife along the ferry route. Seals live in Iliamna Lake, and bears inhabit McNeil River State Game Sanctuary just south of the final leg of the path, he said (E&E News PM, Feb. 6).

The Army Corps is tentatively set to release the environmental impact statement July 24. The agency will determine whether the LEDPA is permittable in the record of decision, which will be published at least 30 days later.


By:  James Marshall
Source: E&E News