Don Jr.’s shadow hangs over Trump mine fight as China retains critical minerals leverage
President Donald Trump’s push to expand U.S. mining and loosen China’s global grip on critical minerals is colliding with his administration’s defense in court of a Biden-era veto blocking Alaska’s...
By Fox News · Fox News
President Donald Trump’s push to expand U.S. mining and loosen China’s global grip on critical minerals is colliding with his administration’s defense in court of a Biden-era veto blocking Alaska’s copper-rich Pebble Mine , reviving scrutiny of Donald Trump Jr.’s past opposition to the project. The fight over Pebble Mine has spanned multiple administrations. Including in 2014, when the Obama Environmental Protection Agency concluded mining in Bristol Bay’s headwaters could damage the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery. Biden’s EPA vetoed the project in January 2023, prompting a lawsuit from Pebble and the state of Alaska. The Trump Department of Justice is now defending that veto in court. The clash under the Trump administration has given Pebble supporters new ammunition to argue the White House is undercutting its own agenda as Trump races to secure domestic supplies of copper and other minerals critical to defense systems and advanced technology. It also puts Trump Jr.’s stance on Pebble Mine back in focus. In 2020, Trump Jr. publicly opposed the mine, joining GOP operative Nick Ayers, who served as chief of staff to former Vice President Mike Pence , in citing concerns about the local bay's ecosystem. FROM MOJAVE TO BEIJING: HOW AMERICA QUIETLY CONCEDED THE RARE EARTH RACE "As a sportsman who has spent plenty of time in the area I agree 100% [with Ayers]," Trump Jr. wrote on X in August 2020. "The headwaters of Bristol Bay and the surrounding fishery are too unique and fragile to take any chances with. #PebbleMine." John Shively, CEO of Pebble Limited Partnership, the company hoping to develop the mine, contended that the Trump DOJ defending the Biden-era veto undermines the president's agenda and would force the United States to cede copper and rare earth minerals to Beijing. Shively called the veto a "textbook example of D.C. bureaucrats imposing their will on Alaska." "It sort of conflicts a little bit with what President Trump is doing," Shively told Fo…