Credit: EPA

NPCA: This dangerous gamble favors international mining interests over people, parks and Bristol Bay’s salmon run and the billion-dollar Bristol Bay fisheries it sustains.

July 27, 2020 - WASHINGTON -– A final, rushed review released last week by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers puts the long-proposed and environmentally disastrous Pebble Mine one step closer to reality.

Katmai and Lake Clark National Parks are within the Bristol Bay watershed and provide habitat for brown bears that rely on Bristol Bay’s healthy salmon populations. Bristol Bay salmon support a $1.5 billion-dollar commercial and sport fishing industry.

Pebble Mine and related construction activity includes a mile-wide open pit mine, massive tailings dams, power plant, and the construction of an 82-mile-long road with an industrial port, and natural gas pipeline. These developments would directly jeopardize the highest concentration of brown bears in the world along with the world-class salmon fisheries which are the bears’ primary food source.

In 2019, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) withdrew its proposed protections for Alaska’s Bristol Bay from the proposed Pebble Mine. The withdrawal rejected science and enabled the Army Corps of Engineers to advance its inadequate analysis of what would be the largest gold and copper mine in North America.

Final Environmental Impact Statement

Statement by Jim Adams, Alaska Regional Director for the National Parks Conservation Association

“The Army Corps’ final rushed review continues to determinedly ignore the threats Pebble Mine poses to Katmai and Lake Clark National Parks’ brown bears and the world’s largest wild sockeye salmon run.

“Pebble Mine and its related transportation corridor spells disaster to the world’s densest population of brown bears, including those that travel from world-famous Katmai National Park. Analysis of such threats and other impacts to wildlife and wild places are missing from this review, which instead solely focuses on ramming through this disastrous mine.

The National Parks Conservation Association rejects this dangerous gamble that favors international mining interests over people, parks and Bristol Bay’s salmon run and the billion-dollar Bristol Bay commercial fishery, recreational fishery and subsistence fishery that it sustains.”

About the National Parks Conservation Association: Since 1919, the nonpartisan National Parks Conservation Association has been the leading voice in safeguarding our national parks. NPCA and its nearly 1.4 million members and supporters work together to protect and preserve our nation’s most iconic and inspirational places for future generations. For more information, visit www.npca.org.
Source: NPCA