Public Radio for Alaska's Bristol Bay
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Tribal Group Announces Pebble Lawsuit Intervention

Courtesy: UTBB Facebook

The United Tribes of Bristol Bay recently announced it would intervene in a lawsuit filed by the Pebble Limited Partnership against the EPA’s use of its Clean Water Act authority in order to stop development of the proposed Pebble Mine. The group of tribes announced the move to help protect the strength of the clean water act. Heather Kendall-Miller is the Senior Staff Attorney for the Native American Rights Fund, which represents the tribal organization. She says the organization went through with the intervention because Bristol Bay watershed residents are the most at risk from the proposed mine.
 

They are the entities that requested the EPA to use this authority in the first place. They want the ability to see this review process completed. Well nobody has a greater likelihood of suffering impacts from the mines like pebble than the people who live in the Bristol Bay watershed. The tribes that compose UTBB are very interested in having the process go forward.

Kendall-Miller says this announcement has been in the making since the tribes initially petitioned for the EPA to exercise its 404(c) review authority.

They are the entities that requested the EPA to use this authority in the first place. They want the ability to see this review process completed. Well nobody has a greater likelihood of suffering impacts from the mines like pebble than the people who live in the Bristol Bay watershed. The tribes that compose UTBB are very interested in having the process go forward.

The response comes after an announcement made in late June that the Parnell administration would be joining the Pebble Partnership in its legal challenge against the EPA. The Pebble Partnership also recently requested that the presiding judge order the EPA to halt its 404(c) review of the effects of the proposed Pebble Mine on the Bristol Bay watershed. The United Tribes of Bristol Bay is a tribal consortium formed last year which works to protect the subsistence way of life in the Bristol Bay region, as well as its watershed.

Related Content