John,

Our Alaska Native relatives are going to Washington, D.C. next week to meet with decision-makers who hold the future of Alaska’s Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in their hands.

Yupik, Cup’ik, and Athabascan brothers and sisters are gearing up for a journey to Capitol Hill to raise their concerns, rally support, and mobilize communities to stop the Donlin Gold Mine project. But they need our help.

If we don’t stop it, this mine would threaten the health and well-being of the human and natural world, contaminating the region’s lands and the headwaters of the Kuskokwim River with dangerous levels of poisonous mercury and arsenic -- and threatening the livelihoods of villagers downstream. It would also destroy critical salmon spawning habitats, in a region where salmon makes up more than 50% of people’s annual diets.

We’re supporting the Mother Kuskokwim Tribal Coalition, uplifting their demands to the federal government. Now, they’re planning to bring our petitions -- including your signature -- to show members of Congress the strength of the movement to protect Alaska’s Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.

Please sign the petition before Alaska Native community leaders and elders go to Washington, D.C. next week to deliver it: Tell federal agencies to revoke Trump-era permits for the destructive Donlin Gold Mine, and instead begin a thorough and Tribal-led environmental review process for the project.

By destroying critical salmon spawning habitats, the Donlin Gold Mine would endanger people’s lives, their ways of life, and their sovereignty.

During the Trump administration, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Land Management rubber-stamped federal permits for the Donlin Gold Mine in violation of the Clean Water Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the Alaska National Lands Interest Conservation Act.

These agencies disregarded environmental, subsistence, and human health concerns raised by Tribes, residents of the region, regional Tribal health organizations, and the state health department.

If we don’t stop it, the Donlin Gold Mine would operate for more than 27 years, threatening the health of all of these communities by contaminating the region’s lands and waters with dangerous levels of poisonous mercury and arsenic for decades to come.

Please sign now to join Tribes in opposing Alaska’s Donlin Gold Mine, which could cause catastrophic environmental harm to lands and waters that Indigenous peoples depend on for their continued existence and ways of life.

Your petition signature will be delivered next week to members of Congress, who are crucial players in the fight to stop this disastrous mine.

Hawwih (thank you) for continuing to advocate for Mother Earth and sovereignty,

Judith LeBlanc (Caddo)
Executive Director
Native Organizers Alliance Action Fund