Our work in Alaska focuses on protecting communities and ecosystems from the harmful effects of hardrock mining, particularly irresponsible mega-projects, such as the massive Pebble Mine and 200-mile Ambler industrial mining road.
With its vast swaths of public lands, we also work to promote land management plans that prioritize protection for subsistence resources, climate resiliency and watershed health, and defend against unfettered resource extraction.
Earthworks stands in support of United Tribes for Bristol Bay and commercial fishermen in the campaign to protect Alaska’s Bristol Bay from the proposed Pebble Mine, a massive mine that threatens the world’s largest wild salmon fishery.
Our work includes development of the Bristol Bay Protection Pledge, endorsed by Tiffany & Co. and other prominent jewelers. We take the fight to corporate boardrooms and investors.
We work with scientists to conduct rigorous reviews, and contribute important research in the campaign to convince the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to establish limits under the Clean Water Act to prevent harmful mine waste dumping in Bristol Bay headwaters.
Earthworks collaborates with the Brooks Range Council, Alaska Native communities and other Alaska allies to challenge the proposed Ambler Road, a private industrial mining road that will bulldoze through the Gates of the Arctic National Preserve and disrupt the migration patterns of caribou herds. We are asking the court to reject the permit, issued under the Trump Administration, without proper tribal consultation or adequate analysis of the potential harm.