Supreme Court Won’t Hear Alaska Appeal of EPA Veto of Big Mine

The $400 billion project would produce copper, gold, silver, molybdenum, and rhenium, but the EPA said it could threaten the Bristol Bay salmon fishery.

The U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on Jan. 4, 2024. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

The Supreme Court refused on Jan. 8 to hear Alaska’s appeal against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) decision to veto the proposed $400 billion Pebble Mine project in the southwestern part of the state.

The project site on state-owned land in the Bristol Bay area is reportedly home to the planet’s second-largest untapped deposit of copper. Demand for copper is expected to more than double by 2050.