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Fishermen showing their opposition to Pebble Mine. (Photo Credit: Orvis)
More than 360,000 Americans urge EPA to stop the pebble mine
(UNITED STATES, 7/3/2013)
Environmentalists opposed to Alaska’s Pebble Mine out of concern for wild salmon habitats and wetlands must now also put up a fight against a politically diverse coalition -- but they’ve got more than 360,000 Americans on their side.
Hundreds of thousands of people have called on the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to save 14,000 jobs by protecting Bristol Bay from the construction of a massive open-pit gold and copper mine. Opponents cite the threat it would pose to the salmon industry with up to 10 billion tonnes of toxic waste, according to the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association.
The EPA asked for the public’s views on the project as part of its scientific assessment of the impacts of large-scale mining on Bristol Bay. A preliminary tally shows that 68 per cent of 527,192 submissions are against the mine.
“Regardless of whether you support or oppose the Pebble Mine project, we all should agree that a potential project has a right to go through the permitting process,” stated the Chamber of Commerce’s William Kovacs in a letter to the EPA.
And he added: “That is one of the underlying reasons for having a permitting process in place. The permitting process protects our environment and natural resources while providing regulatory certainty to the regulated community,” The Daily Caller reports.
The Pebble Mine has been a contentious point in a political battle over the EPA’s power to veto large-scale mining projects under US clean water laws.
The agency issued its second draft assessment of the mine some months ago after determining that it could in fact harm the local salmon fishery and surrounding wetlands.
But Republicans and mine supporters have criticized the EPA’s review because no plans for the mine have been submitted, which means that the agency has been unable to evaluate the actual plans for the mine.
“The current assessment undermines the existing process via a preemptive decision based on a hypothetical mine,” writes AJ Merrick, business manager of LIUNA Local 13. “Every project should have an opportunity to be reviewed under the existing permitting process.”
Although the Centre for American Progress has voiced support for the EPA’s review, it is “not calling on the agency to pre-emptively veto the controversial Pebble LP mine,” E&E News reports.
Supporters of the mine also insist that it would bring jobs to a region languishing in economic depression while also propping up the US’s mineral security. Opponents point out that the mine could pollute the surrounding pristine environment.
Related article:
- Alaska Salmon Fishery Produces USD 1.5 Billion in Value
By Natalia Real
[email protected]
www.seafood.media
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