[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 20 (Tuesday, January 31, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S157]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              BRISTOL BAY

  Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I rise today to applaud the Biden 
administration and their historic step to permanently protect Bristol 
Bay, AK. More than a decade after the Pebble Mine was proposed, the 
Environmental Protection Agency, today, is finalizing a Clean Water Act 
protection that will permanently protect Bristol Bay. No company will 
ever be able to stick a mine on top of some of the best salmon habitat 
in the world.
  Salmon fishermen from Alaska and from my home State of Washington 
will continue to earn their livelihoods from Bristol Bay salmon, as 
they have for generations. No Bristol Bay salmon will ever have to swim 
through toxic soup just to get to its spawning grounds.
  This scientific decision today by the Environmental Protection Agency 
puts a final nail in this mine's proposal.
  It is difficult to understand and to really know the importance of 
Bristol Bay. In an average year, 40 to 60 million sockeye salmon swim 
into or out of the bay. Last year was a blockbuster run. Nearly 80 
million sockeye salmon returned to Bristol Bay.
  That is why Bristol Bay is known as the holy grail of salmon. Today, 
Bristol Bay salmon fisheries are a $2.2 billion annual industry. They 
support over 15,000 jobs in the Pacific Northwest and nationwide, and 
that is through commercial fishing, recreational fishing, tourism, 
seafood, restaurants, shipbuilding, and other associated industries.
  I know the Presiding Officer knows this well because northern 
California also benefits from these salmon sectors and the salmon 
industry.
  Salmon are one of the most important products that we in the Pacific 
Northwest have. It is the symbol of our region. So Bristol Bay salmon, 
being a powerhouse and supporting nearly half of the sockeye salmon 
harvested around the globe, is certainly worth fighting for.
  So, as you can imagine, when a mining corporation decided to try to 
build a mine in the headwaters of this most powerful salmon run on the 
planet, fishermen in my State and in many other States were outraged. 
Estuaries and mines really don't mix, and they certainly don't belong 
together at the headwaters of one of the most important salmon runs and 
spawning grounds in the Nation.
  For fishermen, the destruction wrought by Pebble Mine would have 
swept away their businesses and their way of life, and they certainly 
raised their voices and came to ask me and others in Washington for 
help.
  In 2011, I was proud to stand with fishermen and Tribes from my State 
and from Alaska to speak out against Pebble Mine and to call for 
permanent protections under the Clean Water Act if the science showed 
that the mine would have irreversible impacts on salmon. Well, sure 
enough, the science is damning, and that is what is being released as 
part of this decision today.
  In 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency found that more than 185 
miles of streams and over 3,800 acres of wetlands would be permanently 
damaged or destroyed by Pebble Mine due to its toxic waste and habitat 
destruction, and that is just if the mine operated the way it was 
supposed to. That wasn't considering the kind of degradation that could 
happen if an accident happened. Those statistics don't account for a 
potential mine disaster that could really wipe out this irreplaceable 
ecosystem.
  So despite the clear science, the mining company has continued to 
claim that protecting Bristol Bay is a partisan government overreach. 
Their executives believe that stripping all the gold and copper out of 
Bristol Bay is a worthy goal, more important than our wild salmon or 
more important than the generations of Washington and Alaska fishermen 
who earn their livelihood from that.
  Protecting our fishing economy should not be a partisan issue, and 
that is why Congress created a fail-safe Clean Water Act provision 
called section 404(c). This provision says that if disposal or dredging 
in a waterway would destroy fisheries, municipal water, or have other 
serious impacts, the Environmental Agency could step in to stop the 
project.
  It is a simple concept, really: Let's not destroy a profitable, 
sustainable industry that keeps the water clean for the sake of just 
temporary extracting.
  Still, this authority in 404(c) isn't used lightly. Since 1972, 
millions of Clean Water Act permits have been approved, compared to 
only 14 times that this provision has been used to stop major projects 
like the one today that is being stopped at Pebble Mine.
  Republican Presidents have used this Clean Water 404(c) authority 11 
times. Let me say that again.
  It has only been implemented 14 times in our history, and 11 times it 
was used by a Republican President. Ronald Reagan alone used the Clean 
Water Act 404 authority 8 times.
  So there was a time when people believed in this conservation. They 
believed in making sure that we preserve what is so unique about our 
planet.
  To sum it up, a multinational corporation thought that it could go to 
one of the most iconic salmon runs on the planet and decimate those 
jobs that we rely on in Bristol Bay and tear a hole in the culture of 
our Northwest fabric. And fishermen and we here said: No.
  I am proud of the scientific work done by the Environmental 
Protection Agency under President Biden, the University of Washington, 
and so many of the environmental partners that fought so hard to stop 
this project.
  I am proud to have stood with the fishermen and Tribes of Bristol Bay 
in saying we need to protect this unique place forever.
  I want to thank some of our greatest champions: The United Tribes of 
Bristol Bay, the Bristol Bay Native Corporation, and the fishing 
families in Alaska and Washington.
  I want to thank my staff, Nikki Teutschel, Amit Ronen, and Jeff 
Watters, who, through a decade, all continued this fight to make sure 
that every administration was listening to this cause.
  It seemed like a ``David and Goliath'' many times, this battle, but 
we know today that the voices of fishermen at Bristol Bay provided the 
leadership that we needed to preserve this area forever and said no to 
this project.
  Fishermen know that the Pacific Northwest salmon is worth more than 
copper, and today, salmon is even worth more than gold. It is our 
Pacific way of life, and thanks to this administration, it will be 
protected.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Hickenlooper). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  The Democratic whip.

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