The Pebble Mine is headed back to court as Canadian-based Northern Dynasty Minerals continues its decades-long attempt to overturn a federal block of the massive open pit gold and copper mine at the headwaters of the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery near Bristol Bay.
The Department of Justice filed its defense of the veto on February 17, 2026. Northern Dynasty’s final reply briefs are due on April 15, after which a judge will rule on whether the project can proceed.
Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan, who has held office since 2015, has remained silent on the lawsuit as he seeks re-election this year. Meanwhile, he continues to accept campaign donations from Pebble backers as recently as December 2025.
Sullivan only came out against the mine in September 2020 after a series of explosive video tapes were revealed in which Pebble CEO Tom Collier and Northern Dynasty President/CEO Ronald Thiessen detailed their insider access to Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and other Alaska power brokers, including Sullivan.
On the tapes, Collier bragged that Sullivan had been “sitting over in a corner and being quiet.” That silence was strategic, Collier said, and would allow the permit to be approved without Sullivan “making bad news stories.”
Collier resigned shortly after the tapes were released. Northern Dynasty also issued an apology in a statement to “all Alaskans” over the deceptions.
It was only three days after the tapes were released that Dan Sullivan abruptly changed his position and said that he opposed the Pebble mine project. The next month, he also promised to donate campaign contributions from mine advocates to charity. According to Federal Election disbursement reports, that never happened.
A Popular Information’s investigation revealed that Sullivan had received a total of $34,150 donations connected to the Pebble project since 2017.
Sullivan has a long relationship of advocacy for the mining project since he was selected in 2009 as Attorney General by former Alaska governor Sarah Palin.
As Attorney General, Sullivan defended Alaska’s Department of Natural Resources and the Pebble Partnership in a lawsuit that challenged the state’s process for issuing permits to the Pebble Limited Partnership.
Sullivan’s first Senate campaign manager was Ben Mohr, formerly of the Pebble Limited Partnership.
And between 2017 and 2020, Sullivan received $6,400 in contributions from the disgraced former Pebble Partnership CEO Tom Collier.
The recent December 2025 donation from from John Shively, the CEO of the Pebble Limited Partnership, indicates a resumption of financial support from high-level Pebble leadership during the current 2026 election cycle.
The Shively donation is a notable development given Senator Sullivan’s public pivot in 2020. It suggests a shift in the campaign’s vetting process for the 2026 cycle, or a change in how they categorize contributions from individuals who are currently acting as consultants or in semi-retired roles within the mining industry.
While the Trump administration defended a 2023 EPA ruling against the Pebble Mine, earlier signals indicated that it might be open to a reversal. As Trump scrambles to secure domestic supplies of critical materials, notably for burgeoning AI centers, Pebble could be a key to satisfying the nation’s huge appetite for copper.
