“If we can’t trust what Dan Sullivan says on Pebble here, how can we trust him in DC?”
Two Alaska fishermen with “roughly 100 years of living and fishing in Bristol Bay” between them are slamming Dan Sullivan for misleading Alaskans on his connections to Pebble Mine, saying he can’t be trusted.
Their op-ed emphasizes how Bristol Bay is “important to virtually every Alaskan” except Dan Sullivan, who “continues to pocket campaign money from those who’d destroy it.” Sullivan has taken thousands of dollars in campaign funding from Pebble executives, including CEO Tom Collier, who “was caught on tape bragging about his ties to Alaska politicians, saying Sullivan wouldn’t stand in the mine’s way.”
“Dan Sullivan is failing Alaska fishermen and trying to hide his ties to special interests trying to destroy Bristol Bay and jeopardize our livelihoods,” said Alaska Democratic Party Chair Eric Croft. “Sullivan’s word holds no merit and Alaska voters will make him answer for his shameless double-dealing and lies.”
Recent reporting exposed Senator Dan Sullivan’s nearly two-decade history of misleading Alaskans about his insidious ties to the Pebble Mine project, showing that he broke his promise to donate Pebble Mine-tied campaign contributions to charity after the “explosive” 2020 scandal. Even worse, Sullivan is still raking in cash from Pebble executives as they’ve tried to quietly push to resurrect the disastrous copper mine at the headwaters of Bristol Bay — threatening the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery.
We’re writing this together with roughly 100 years of living and fishing in Bristol Bay. We’ve seen the highs and lows of the seasons and truly appreciate life in communities where solid agreements are still made with a handshake. Which is why Dan Sullivan’s insincerity on the Pebble mine is beyond disappointing.
Bristol Bay is irreplaceable. Its wild salmon runs are the largest in the world, host tens of thousands of jobs, feed hundreds of thousands of people and anchor a way of life built over generations. What happens in Bristol Bay is important to virtually every Alaskan. Except, apparently, Sen. Dan Sullivan, who continues to pocket campaign money from those who’d destroy it.
Planned as the largest open-pit copper mine in North America, the Pebble mine would dynamite the very heart of the Bay’s salmon spawning grounds, poisoning the habitat, a way of life and a fishery generating more than $2 billion a year.
A broad consensus of Alaskans has fought the mine since even before our late Gov. Jay Hammond declared he “couldn’t think of a worse place to put a mine unless it were in my kitchen.”
Coastal communities, tribes, and subsistence, commercial and recreational fishermen all agree Pebble is the wrong mine in the wrong place. So did the Environmental Protection Agency in a series of rulings aimed at stopping the project.
But the insatiable hunger for copper brought on by multibillion-dollar investments in artificial intelligence has refired big-money interest in Pebble, and seemingly refired Dan Sullivan’s interest too.
Over the years, Sen. Sullivan accepted thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the former CEO of the Pebble Partnership, Tom Collier. Collier was caught on tape bragging about his ties to Alaska politicians, saying Sullivan wouldn’t stand in the mine’s way.
When that story was reported, Sullivan responded by saying he’d donate those campaign contributions to charity. But he never did, and continued to accept donations as recently as February. Asked why, twice, at Kodiak’s ComFish trade show in April, Sullivan claimed he was too busy to talk about it and hurriedly left the meeting.
In November, we have a chance to chart a different course by electing a fisherman who will put Alaska first. Alaskans and the U.S. Senate need a fighter, a real Alaskan, who will restore and develop our fisheries, take on corruption and defend the Alaska way of life.
It’s time to retire Dan Sullivan.
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