The fate of the EPA veto blocking Pebble Mine is now in a federal judge's hands

A federal judge is deciding whether the Environmental Protection Agency's veto that blocks the Pebble Mine will survive, the latest turn in one of Alaska's longest and most contested resource fights. And while that decision sits, she has already refused to let the companies behind the prospect seal parts of the record in their own lawsuit.

At issue is the EPA's 2023 determination that mining the Pebble deposit would cause unacceptable harm to the salmon fisheries of the Bristol Bay watershed. That determination effectively barred the mine as proposed and restricted future development in the area. Northern Dynasty Minerals, the company behind Pebble, and the State of Alaska are asking the court to throw it out. They contend the EPA exceeded its authority under the Clean Water Act by vetoing the project preemptively, before the mine's permit application had been fully reviewed on its merits.

The tribal and conservation groups defending the veto contend the opposite: that the EPA acted within its authority, and that the protections are needed to safeguard the region's salmon, Indigenous cultures and economy. Those intervenors include Bristol Bay Native Association, United Tribes of Bristol Bay and Trout Unlimited.

Alaska Native parties sit on both sides of the case. The challengers include the Alaska Native village corporations Iliamna Natives Ltd. and Alaska Peninsula Corp., alongside the state. The defenders include Bristol Bay Native Corporation and more than a dozen other tribal, fishing and conservation groups. It is a fight that runs through Native Alaska, not around it.

U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason heard arguments on the core question in late June and has not yet ruled, some eight weeks on. In the meantime, on Aug. 5, she denied a motion by the mining side to seal parts of the administrative record, leaving those portions open. The transcript of the June argument is not yet publicly available.