Alaska Tribes Win Legal Fight Against Destructive Gold Dredging Operation Near Nome  

Anchorage, AK —

Five Alaska Native tribes won a legal victory when the U.S. District Court in Alaska ruled late yesterday the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers acted arbitrarily when approving a controversial suction dredge gold mining operation proposed about 30 miles east of Nome in Northwest Alaska.   

The suction dredge operation proposed by IPOP LLC, a Nevada-based operator, threatens over 150 acres within Bonanza Channel in Safety Sound. The pristine estuary is important habitat for fish, migratory birds, marine mammals, and other wildlife. Tribal members and other residents depend on the area to fish, gather eggs, pick berries, and hunt. In addition, the estuary and surrounding lands are a popular destination for birdwatchers, who support local tourism businesses. 

The dredging operation would involve digging up and discharging 4.5 million cubic yards of gravel, sand, silt, vegetation, and other materials into 160 acres of estuary waters over five years, causing long-lasting harm to the ecosystem.  

The court found that the Army Corps violated both the National Environmental Policy Act and the Clean Water Act and ordered the parties to provide more information to the court within 21 days to help determine the ultimate outcome.  The court would then decide whether to remand the permit, uphold it, or seek modifications.  

“Our Tribes have spent years fighting to protect something that should never have been put at risk in the first place,” said Deilah Johnson, Treasurer and Tribal Resources Director for the Village of Solomon. “It’s frustrating that our communities have to continually defend our lands, our waters, and our way of life against decisions that fail to recognize just how much is at stake for our people. These aren’t just environmental concerns to us. This is our food security, our traditions, and the future of our children. We shouldn’t have to fight this hard to be heard, and we certainly shouldn’t have to wait until the damage is done for our concerns to matter. This ruling is an important victory, but our work isn’t finished. We will continue to stand together and fight for the protection our communities deserve.” 

“This win belongs to everyone who refused to give up on protecting our sacred lands,  

waters, and way of life,” said Kirsten Timbers, President, Village of Solomon Tribal Council. “Our staff carried this work with extraordinary dedication, especially Deilah Johnson, who became an expert in mine permitting because protecting our homelands demanded it. Our Solomon Tribal Council who remained unwavering in our position. Our fellow Tribes – King Island Native Community, Village of Council, Chinik Eskimo Community, and Native Village of White Mountain – who courageously held our hands and stood beside us against powerful corporate interests. For a small Tribe, carrying this fight has taken tremendous time, courage, and heart. Our lands and waters sustain our people, our culture, and our future, and we will continue to stand together to protect them against the interest of IPOP and others. Together, we stood for our ancestors, our children, and the generations still to come.” 

The Army Corps had initially rejected the permit in September 2022 at the Alaska District level, but in a surprising move, after the mining company appealed, the Corps’ Pacific Division, which oversees Alaska and three other districts, reversed its decision in March 2024 and approved the Clean Water Act permit for the mining operation.  

Tribes, village corporations, the regional tribal nonprofit, and the regional health corporation stated their opposition in a letter following that reversal. And then five Tribes – the Village of Solomon, Native Village of Council, King Island Native Community, Chinik Eskimo Community and the Native Village of White Mountain – filed a legal challenge to overturn the approval of the permit.  

In the ruling, the court found that the Pacific Division failed to explain why it arrived at different conclusions than the Alaska District, approving the mine when the Alaska District had rejected the permit.  

“The court agreed with our clients that the Corp’s Pacific Division failed to justify approving this project,” said Earthjustice Attorney Erin Colón. “The Corps ignored the findings of its own district staff and other expert agencies, all of whom sounded alarms about tearing up a five-mile strip of this pristine estuary that is vital to fish, birds, and wildlife, and most importantly, to the Tribes we represent in the case.”  

Background 

If it had been allowed to move forward, the operation would have been the largest of its kind in Alaska and the first of its kind proposed in a productive, ecologically intact estuary.  It would cause lasting and significant harm to valuable ecosystems, risking the tribes’ food security and subsistence ways of life. 

Activities covered under the unlawfully issued permit included dredging, disposal of excess materials back into the estuary waters, and future reclamation of dredged materials and disposal of excess materials back into the estuary waters. The suction dredge mining proposed by IPOP would involve cutting and vacuuming up the underwater bed of the estuary, sucking these materials through a tube, processing, and pumping unwanted materials back out, destroying the subsurface environment without a proven plan for reclamation.