Plans to mine alongside Alaska’s pristine Bristol Bay, where half the world’s salmon are fished, had appeared dead in the water in recent years.
Not anymore. The Environmental Protection Agency has dropped a regulatory plan that would have protected Bristol Bay from the planned Pebble Mine, encouraging the project’s backers to seek permits and move forward.
Northern Dynasty, the mining concern behind the Pebble project, has had a rough few years. In 2014, the Obama EPA moved to block its plans to mine for copper and gold under the Clean Water Act, prompting the company to launch a costly court battle. Then a New York investments house announced it believes the company’s stock is effectively worth $0.00 — because even if Pebble gets approved it will be economically impossible to extract the minerals there in a profitable fashion.
Optimists, meanwhile, began pushing Northern Dynasty stock as a get-rich-quick opportunity following President Donald Trump’s election victory, in anticipation of a reversal in federal policy toward Pebble. On Friday, that prediction was proven at least partly correct: EPA head Scott Pruitt announced the agency would settle Northern Dynasty’s lawsuit, abandon Obama-era regulatory plans, and allow the company to apply for a mining permit.
Alaska natives, fishermen, and environmental groups worked pretty damn hard to put the kibosh on this terrible project, and now with one hijacked election we are back to square one.
Elections have consequences, perhaps if Alaskans had bothered to research the candidates they would not have helped elect the man who will help to poison our precious Bristol Bay and murder thousands of our fish.
Oh, the damage this knucklehead can do while he thrashes his way out of the room...
ReplyDeleteIs there any hope that the companies involved in the Pebble Mine have given up on the plan by now?
ReplyDeleteBeaglemom
When the stock was worth $0, yeah. But now there's a possibility they can fleece some investors out of major bucks, so no.
DeleteTest your water for arsenic and several other hazards. The mines all over the usa are polluting our water, food, air and soil. It is the root of most disease and cancers. Check it out. Lawsuits are flying and don john wants to protect the mine corporations.
ReplyDeletePump all the waste water behind the 700 foot tall earthen berms to East Coast and irrigate Drumpf's golf courses. Only seems right. Florida, too.
ReplyDeleteTrump does not want any regulations costing businesses money or preventing them from developing a business. The consequences to humans and the environment do not matter to him given his budget recommendations to slash funding.
ReplyDeleteAnd then his administration and the GOP in general will say that all of those ills affecting people are their own fault. His budget director blamed Diabetes 2 on everyone with the diagnosis. Of course, a great many of them voted for Trump. I DID NOT. Just wait until Mulvaney or someone close to him is diagnosed with diabetes or worse, possibly cancer or heart disease. Something will get everyone of us sometime. Or do rich Republicans get to live forever?
DeleteBeaglemom
Greenpeace, where are you?
ReplyDeleteC'mon Gryphen, lighten up!
ReplyDeleteWhat did you expect? First, Emperor Drumpf will NEVER visit Alaska so why would he care about the environment there?
Second, everyone knows a major goal of Putin-Drumpf Development International, wholly owned subsidiary of Gazprom USA, LLC, is the return of Alaska to Russia. It would be fiscally reckless not to extract as much natural resources as possible before handing the keys back to the Russians.
Even a libtard like you doesn't want Drumpf to be fiscally reckless, do you???
No Gryphen, you can thank your neighbors for this. Everyone knew what they were getting and now unfortunnately they are getting it.
ReplyDeleteOh trust me, I totally blame my neighbors.
DeleteHalf The World’s Salmon Supply Threatened As Trump’s EPA Withdraws Alaskan Mining Restrictions
ReplyDelete...It’s being called a “backdoor deal” by critics and a “slap in the face” to the citizens of the Bristol Bay region who petitioned to keep the region protected.
The Pebble company sued the EPA in federal court claiming the agency colluded with environmental groups to block the mining project. The suit followed an EPA study that concluded the proposed large-scale mining posed a siginificant risk to the region’s salmon and cause adverse effects to Alaskan Natives who based their culture around the salmon resources in the area. The EPA inspector general found no evidence that the EPA predetermined the outcome of the study in any way.
“Protecting Bristol Bay from the Pebble Mine has been a priority issue for the hook-and-bullet community for 10 years. This was a real test for President Trump, who said all the right things to sportsmen during the election,” said Scott Hed, the director of the Sportsman’s Alliance for Alaska.
“This is a direct assault on our values. America’s hunters and anglers are extremely disappointed but we will not let up in the fight to protect Bristol Bay.”
http://addictinginfo.com/2017/05/14/half-the-worlds-salmon-supply-threatened-as-trumps-epa-withdraws-alaskan-mining-restrictions/
I'd make book those fisherman and hunters voted for Hair Furor Drumpf, and Don Young too.
DeleteGolf courses, nice open areas to do a bit of fracking or drill for oil !!!
ReplyDeleteThis is the guy that complained to Palm Beach that the air traffic was annoying, but dumping toxic waste into the water, killing off the salmon industry is fine.
How much stock does he own in the mining companies, oh right we aren’t interested in his tax returns.
To be fair, you dumbasses keep re-electing Don Young. Maybe you should start your Resistance a little closer to home first.
ReplyDelete(Why should a president that eats mostly KFC and McDonald's care about salmon? We all know he only cares about Donald Trump and money, in that order.)
In the year or two before President Obama stopped the Pebble Mine I received mailings about it at least every week or so, more so if I count emails from various organizations. Yet, not a peep from any of them now that Trump has allowed the mine to go forward. What's happened? Have all of the opponents gone to sleep? Don't they care anymore? What about all the donations they received from people who worried enough about the environment that they sent money to help fight it?
ReplyDeleteBeaglemom