Pebble Mine: 27 Salmon vs $800B Project

0:00It's April 23rd. You're listening to Anchorage News today, AI-powered local news. I'm Corey with the story. Pebble Mine Developers are dropping a wild number in federal court. Just 27 coho salmon are supposedly blocking their massive copper and, goal project worth $800 billion in minerals. They argue federal regulators halted construction back in 2023 to protect these fish and one small stream on the site, calling it a huge, overreach. The deposit sits right in salmon country, upstream from Alaska's Bristol Bay fishery, which pumps out hundreds of millions yearly. Pebble's team cites old fish counts from nearly 20 years ago, saying those streams are low producers anyway and the fish could vanish naturally in a year. Minebackers are fired up online. With one supporter raging, she'd take out the salmon herself if she could find them. Opponents, like local indigenous leaders in fishermen, call it a total misrepresentation, pointing to lost stream miles and downstream habitat risks.

1:01That could wreck the whole salmon run. Pebble's owners are digging in, shelling out $14 million this year, mostly on lawsuits, betting on long-term copper demand. Investors with a 20-year view keep funding it, even as the Trump administration defends the Biden veto in court. This clash keeps boiling between rural jobs and that price of fishery, with Pebble pushing hard to flip the script and get shovels in the ground.