NRDC On Pebble Plan

Northern Dynasty Minerals, which had its Pebble Mine permit approval revoked in an about-face by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, published a lengthy report earlier this week detailing that its plan “can fundamentally co-exist with the important fisheries resources of Bristol Bay, and even strengthen the economic contribution they make to the region and the state.”

The Natural Resources Defense Council released a rebuttal to the report.

Joel Reynolds, NRDC Western Director, released a blog condemning the pebble mine and debunking the mining company’s “Environmental, Social and Governance” (ESG) report’s most erroneous claims. “Indeed, if this particular company can credibly cloak itself in the mantle of environmental and social responsibility – if it can reasonably claim that its project and its record exemplify the principles that underlie the growing corporate interest in ESG — then those principles are a joke,” Reynolds wrote. 

Here’s a little more from Reynolds’ NRDC blog (emphasis his):

“These diverse and fundamental concerns came to a head in September 2020 when the undercover “Pebble Tapes” provided a window into the duplicity of Northern Dynasty through the videotaped words of its own leadership.  In a deeply embarrassing series of recent interviews with presumed potential investors associated with the Chinese government – actually two investigators from the D.C.-based non-profit Environmental Investigation Agency (“EIA”) — Northern Dynasty CEO Ron Thiessen and then-Pebble Partnership CEO Tom Collier are seen boasting about their political connections, demeaning Alaska’s elected officials (including, in particular, its two Senators and Governor) and the White House Chief of Staff, and confirming with virtual “100 percent” certainty that Pebble’s application for a 20 year mine permit is in fact just the first stage of its real plan for a sprawling 180 (to 200 years or more) mining plan.  In other words, the executives admitted that their permit application to the Army Corps was not in fact the full project that Northern Dynasty has in mind to build.