EPA Administrator Regan’s confirmation a win for Bristol Bay

Photo by Jonny Armstrong

ANCHORAGE—SalmonState applauds the confirmation of EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan, who has assured Americans he will restore the role of science at the Environmental Protection Agency. SalmonState also thanks Senator Lisa Murkowski, who voted to confirm Regan. The confirmation is a win for Bristol Bay, the world’s greatest sockeye salmon run, which the Obama EPA was working to protect from the proposed Pebble Mine — a massive, open-pit mine and toxic waste dump planned for Bristol Bay’s headwaters. After a closed-door meeting with then Pebble CEO Tom Collier in 2017, Trump’s then-EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt reversed course, which led to the stripping of the previous EPA’s science-based proposed protections in 2019. This revocation was answered by widespread bipartisan outcry in defense of this incredible place. President Biden, as well, has affirmed that Bristol Bay is “no place for a mine.”

“Tribes, fishermen and Alaskans have made crystal clear that the only way to protect the world’s greatest sockeye salmon run, as well as the way of life, culture, jobs and ecosystem it supports, is for the EPA to use its authority under Section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act to veto Pebble Mine,” said SalmonState Executive Director Tim Bristol. “We look forward to working with Administrator Regan to finish the job that the Obama/Biden Administration started.”