Save Bristol Bay

After years of regulatory reversals and litigation, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a decisive 2023 veto under the Clean Water Act, explicitly blocking mine waste discharge and effectively protecting the Bristol Bay watershed from development, despite ongoing legal challenges. ^{4  5}

Pebble Mine Controversy

Save Bristol Bay opposes the proposed construction of the Pebble Mine at Bristol Bay, near Dillingham, Alaska. The Pebble Mine project would provide commercial interests access to large deposits of copper and other minerals found in the Bristol Bay watershed. Save Bristol Bay opposes the construction plan as it claims the mining efforts would endanger the major Pacific salmon hatchery space in Alaska. In 2010, six Bristol Bay Native tribes, commercial fishermen and sportsmen, and many others requested the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to initiate the 404(c) process to protect Bristol Bay under the Clean Water Act. The EPA granted the request which began a decades-long battle between Save Bristol Bay and mine developers. ¹

In 2014, the EPA began assessment of the Bristol Bay land and proposed restrictions on mining in the area. Pebble Limited Partnership—the project developer—challenged the EPA’s protection of Bristol Bay which triggered years of litigation, including a series of settlements and repeated reversals of suspending, resuming, and then withdrawing the 404(c) proposal to protect Bristol Bay. By 2021, the process was revived through court action, resulting in the reimplementation of the earlier EPA restrictions. In 2022, the EPA advanced a revised proposal, extended public comment, and issued a recommended determination. Finally, in January 2023, the agency issued a sweeping veto, protecting the Bristol Bay land under section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act and prohibiting mine waste discharge from Bristol Bay. ⁴

Despite claims that local Native American tribes oppose the construction of the Pebble Mine, two Alaska native village corporations sued to override the EPA’s project veto in 2024. ^{6  7} The groups claimed that the EPA’s veto was both illegal and “disregarded” the findings of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Final Environmental Impact Statement, which concluded the project could be developed without measurable harm to downstream water or fisheries. ⁸

In 2024, both the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Mining Association supported the Pebble Mine project by submitting amicus briefs in the legal challenge to the EPA’s veto of the mine. ⁹ As of March 2026, the litigation remains ongoing. ⁵

Trout Unlimited (TU)

Trout Unlimited (TU) is the parent group and fiscal sponsor of Save Bristol Bay. ¹⁰ TU is an advocacy group for trout fishermen founded in 1959 in Grayling, Michigan that opposes the construction of mines, gas pipelines, and other economic development plans it considers a threat to local environments. ^{11  12} TU has opposed the Keystone XL oil pipeline and the Pebble Mine at Bristol Bay, and has supported a federal carbon tax and the removal of dams that block fish migration. ^{13  10  14  15}

TU has received extensive funding from left-of-center philanthropic and environmental groups, including the Nature Conservancy, the Gates Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Wyss Foundation. TU has also received millions in federal grant funding through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. ^{16  17}

Connections to Arabella Advisors

According to a 2019 report from the Capital Research Center (CRC), the Save Bristol Bay campaign is not an independently organized citizen effort but a project tied to a broader left-of-center “dark money” network. The report explains that Save Bristol Bay was originally a joint project of Trout Unlimited and SalmonState, both of which receive financial support from the New Venture Fund (NVF), one of several nonprofit organizations managed by Arabella Advisors. Arabella acted as a central philanthropic hub that receives large donations from left-of-center groups—including billions in funding from George Soros left-wing Open Society Foundations (OSF)—to fund and create left-of-center activist and advocacy groups, including Save Bristol Bay. ³

Leadership

As of 2026, Save Bristol Bay reported to have a team of five employees and a network of more than 85 ambassadors across Alaska opposing the construction of Pebble Mine. ^{18 19}

As of 2026, Nelli Williams was serving as the Alaska director of Save Bristol Bay. She had worked at Save Bristol Bay since 2007 and had previously worked as the group’s Wyoming coordinator, special projects coordinator, and Alaska program deputy director. She assumed the director role in 2015. Before joining Save Bristol Bay, Williams worked as a graphic designer and an executive director in nonprofit project management. She received a bachelor’s degree in Human Dimensions of Natural Resource Management and a master’s degree in Natural Resource Management and Environmental Education from the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point. ^{18  20}

Financials

Save Bristol Bay is a fiscal project of Trout Unlimited (TU). In 2024, TU reported $83,453,958 in total revenue, $88,335,935 in total expenses, and $47,970,885 in total assets. That year, Trout Unlimited received $53,072,617 in government grants, approximately 64 percent of its total revenue. ²¹

Save Bristol Bay raises funds through partnerships with other ecological and environmental organizations that produce merchandise for the group, the proceeds of which fund the activities of Save Bristol Bay. ²² The group has also partnered with other major conservation groups to organize fundraisers, including the Conservation Fund and the World Wildlife Fund. ²³

Major American sporting goods and fly-fishing retail store Orvis has raised and donated over $250,000 in support of Save Bristol Bay. ²⁴