The Pebble Limited Partnership announced today that it has sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for taking the first step in a public process that may lead to advance protections for Bristol Bay. The EPA’s advance protections would prevent the waste from a massive proposed copper and gold mine from damaging the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery and the local communities that depend on the Bay’s abundant fish.

Earthjustice denounces the lawsuit. The following statement is from Tom Waldo, Earthjustice attorney based in Juneau, Alaska:

“EPA has both the science and the law behind it. The EPA’s comprehensive analysis, which it prepared with extensive public input and peer review, showed that the Pebble Mine would be unacceptable for the wild salmon of Bristol Bay and the many people who depend on that $1 billion-dollar fishery, the largest sockeye salmon fishery in the world. Pebble could learn a lot from EPA by disclosing its plans to the public and conducting a transparent process.”