Tapping the Brakes on Pebble Mine

[UngulateNerd92]

Army Corps of Engineers agrees that Pebble Mine would cause unavoidable impacts to Bristol Bay

If ever there was a place you’d think would be off-limits for a mine, it is Bristol Bay. Home to the world’s largest sockeye salmon run, this land of wild rivers and abundant salmon runs supports a thriving commercial fishery that supplies more than 140,000 jobs a year for people in Alaska and throughout the Pacific Northwest. Nearly 60 million sockeye are caught in this fishery each year. Yup’ik, Aluti’iq and Dena’ina peoples have lived in Bristol Bay since time immemorial, and the salmon, animals, berries and numerous other resources of the region are both a critical part of this ecosystem and a key source of food and subsistence fishing.

Believe it or not, this incredible place is also the site for the proposed Pebble Mine. If built, this gold, copper and molybdenum mine would be one of the largest mines in the world. The mine would result in a long list of irreversible threats: destroying sensitive salmon habitat, degrading the water quality and irreparably harming this dramatic and important ecosystem. Further, the open pit and tailings pond would forever be a sword hanging over the head of Bristol Bay—a tailings dam failure would be catastrophic for fish populations and the marine and in-river ecosystems.

Tapping the Brakes on Pebble Mine - Ocean Conservancy

 

[birdsandbats]

Good to hear. Pebble Mine would absolutely destroy Alaska's famous salmon run - the last of its kind.

 

[UngulateNerd92]

Here is a relevant PBS documentary.

 

[UngulateNerd92]

This is great and much needed news!

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Makes Bristol Bay Protections Final

Veto of proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska based on scientific review

The future of the world’s largest wild salmon fishery and the lifeblood of Alaska’s Bristol Bay shines brighter after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a determination which effectively ends the threat of the proposed Pebble Mine.

The agency today finalized its recommendation, first released in December, to prohibit and restrict the use of certain waters in the watershed near the Pebble deposit. If developed as proposed, Pebble would be one of the largest open pit mines in the world.

The recommendation urged the agency to exercise its rarely used authority under Section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act to prohibit development of the Pebble deposit at a certain scale. With today’s action, the agency has now invoked its Section 404(c) authority on just 14 occasions in the 50 years since the Clean Water Act became law.

U.S. EPA Vetoes Pebble Mine in Alaska's Bristol Bay

 

[UngulateNerd92]

Here is another relevant article.

Supreme Court denies Alaska’s bid to revive the copper and gold Pebble Mine proposal blocked by EPA

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected Alaska’s bid to revive a proposed copper and gold mine that was blocked by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The justices did not comment in turning away the state’s attempt to sue the Biden administration directly in the high court over its desire to revive the proposed Pebble Mine in the state’s Bristol Bay region.

Supreme Court denies Alaska's bid to revive Pebble Mine