The Environmental Protection Agency announced Friday that it is beginning a process that could block a massive proposed gold mine in Alaska from being built.
The Pebble Mine is a proposed open-pit copper and gold mine that could be up to 2 miles long, a mile and a half wide, and 1,700 feet deep -- the largest of its type in North America. The proposed site for the mine is at the headwaters of the Nushagak and Kvichak rivers, which feed into the Bristol Bay. It is the largest sockeye salmon fishery in the world, producing nearly half of the world's wild sockeye.
The EPA said Friday that it is invoking Clean Water Act protections that would stop its construction, citing concerns about the threat it poses to the bay and the fish that depend on it. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said that the agency is taking the step to "ensure that the world's most productive salmon fishery is safe from the risks it faces from what could be one of the largest mines on Earth" in a call with reporters Friday afternoon.
McCarthy cited threats to the region's multimillion-dollar fishing industry, as well as to native cultures that rely on the bay. The agency released a scientific assessment of the bay and proposed mine in mid-January, which McCarthy said provided "ample reason for EPA to believe that a mine of the size and scope of Pebble Mine would have significant and irreversible impacts on Bristol Bay."
And that should be the end of that.
This has been going on for years and it seems that everybody, except a handful of politicians including Sarah Palin, have been speaking out against this since it first became known.
Alaska natives, fishermen, and environmentalists have been beating the drum, and finally it looks like the EPA is going to put their foot down and stop this potential environmental disaster BEFORE it can poison our water and kill our salmon.
I think Alaskans everywhere will be celebrating this decision.
"...and finally it looks like the EPA is going to put their foot down and stop this potential environmental disaster BEFORE it can poison our water and kill our salmon."
ReplyDeleteYou hope.
Lots of money to be had in something like this and you just KNOW some repube is going to go to court to fight this decision - even if they have to wait until we get another repube president.
But Jesus WANTS us to rape the Earth because ... FREEDUM!
ReplyDeleteHere's hoping against hope that the EPA decision will be iron-clad so it cannot be reversed by the next set of destroyers that come to power.
ReplyDeleteI bet Sarah isn't happy youbetcha! Didn't she eat somewhere that supported Pebble Mine in SPA?
DeleteOT: G maybe interested in this:
DeleteChomsky: How America's Great University System Is Getting Destroyed
Faculty are increasingly hired on the Wal-Mart model as temps.
http://bit.ly/1pJGa9b
Well good news. I hope it holds. I have watched those gold rush shows and don't understand why they are allowed to destroy so much for a little jar of gold. I know on one of the shows this year they made a point to say they put everything back the way it was after they take the gold. Of course that is a lie.
ReplyDelete"We are all Alaskans"
ReplyDeleteJohn McCain
Outstanding! Since they began talking about a Pebble Mine, I've been against it. It's the last thing Alaska and that area of the state needs! Thank you, EPA!
ReplyDeleteI like eating clean salmon!!
Hell, 8:50, I just like having salmon AROUND!
DeleteIt's about time.
ReplyDeletePebble Mine was an astronomically stupid idea to begin with.
What's in it for Todd and Sarah?
ReplyDeleteAs a non Alaskan, this move by the EPA is a huge win for everyone. Where's the poutrage from EST Barbie (facebook)???? She loves the place blah blah blah named her first child after it blah blah blah because it's pure, pristeen, and the water looks like a prototype of her new chin....
ReplyDelete