Pebble Mine Project EIS to be released Friday

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) -The next step forward in the permitting process of the Pebble Mine project has officially got a date. The final Environmental Impact Statement for the mine will be released at the end of this week, Friday, July 24.

In a call with the Army Corps of Engineers Monday, few details were revealed about what will be in that report. In a press release from the Pebble Partnership last week the organization claimed confidence that “the final EIS will demonstrate why we believe the project can be done without harm to the Bristol Bay fishery.”

The Bristol Bay Native Corporation is at odds with that characterization. It is important to note that while this is the final EIS, it is not a permitting decision. It is what is known as a “record of decision.” That decision won’t come for at least 30 days from the release of that final environmental impact statement.

David Hobbie, chief of the Regional Regulatory Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, says that new regulation will not be retroactive so it likely won’t have an impact on this project.