K Street is climbing aboard the Trump mining blitz.
From Alaska to Minnesota, President Donald Trump has signaled his intention to open public lands up to more mining. And with the GOP megabill setting aside $1 billion for critical mineral projects through the Cold War-era Defense Production Act, companies are recruiting lobbyists, some with connections to the Trump White House.
One contentious project on K Street’s radar is the now-defunct Pebble mine in Alaska that Trump originally halted during his first stint in the White House. Developers have for years faced legal, regulatory, financial and political hurdles in their effort to build a copper, gold and molybdenum mine in Alaska’s pristine Bristol Bay watershed, home to one of the world’s premier salmon habitats.
Today, the Pebble project remains mired in legal drama after the Trump administration and EPA failed to reach a resolution over a veto the agency issued in 2023 under the Clean Water Act, essentially halting the project.
