New Hurdle For Major Alaska Gold Mine After Donald Trump Jr. Tweets Opposition

After a pressure campaign by people with President Trump's ear, the Army Corps of Engineers says a proposed open-pit gold mine upstream from Alaska's most valuable salmon fishery can't proceed as the developers hoped. It's not an outright veto of the mine, but some of the groups fighting the project say the years-long battle is as good as won.

Until now, the Pebble Mine seemed on track to get its federal permit as early as this fall, to the alarm of fishermen and Alaska Native organizations.

They say the mine is an existential threat to the way of life in Bristol Bay, where the economy and the culture revolve around commercial and subsistence salmon fishing. This part of southwest Alaska is also renowned for expensive sport-fishing lodges.

Mine supporters say the project would bring year-round jobs to an area that badly needs them and provide minerals the nation needs. The Pebble Partnership has run ads to highlight a conclusion the Corps of Engineers reached this summer: that the mine would have "no measurable impact" on Bristol Bay's salmon population or fishery.