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If built, the Pebble Mine would generate more than 10 billion tons of dangerous waste, wipe out 90 miles of salmon streams, and pollute more than 5,000 acres of wetlands, ponds, and lakes.
It would likely plummet the salmon population -- catastrophically impacting local communities, whose livelihoods come from sustainably fishing in the last great wild sockeye salmon fishery.
No wonder more than 80 percent of Bristol Bay residents -- including Native people -- and more than 85 percent of commercial fishermen strongly oppose Pebble Mine.
In 2014, the EPA determined that Pebble Mine would harm the salmon fishery and laid out protections for Bristol Bay under the Clean Water Act. They had enormous support throughout the country: People submitted over 1.6 million public comments in support, including over 20,000 Alaskans.
But under the Trump administration, the EPA reversed course on its own proposed salmon protections.
And now, an important deadline is coming up in just a few weeks on May 28th. By then, the EPA must choose whether or not to designate Bristol Bay as an Aquatic Resource of National Importance and invoke section 404(q) of the Clean Water Act to ensure a thorough, adequate environmental review of the reckless Pebble project.
Friends of the Earth just submitted 28,804 comments to EPA staff responsible for the decision, urging them to invoke their authority so the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers doesn’t rush a flawed and inadequate Environmental Impact Statement review of the mine in order to push forward permitting.
We need your support NOW to gear up for the crucial few weeks ahead, and likely beyond.
Help protect the Bristol Bay community's ecosystem, lives, and livelihoods, John: Donate $10 or more to Friends of the Earth today.
If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately:
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Before this pandemic, the local community was worried about the environmental impacts that the proposed mine would have on a renewable and sustainable resource: salmon.
Now locals are also worried about the coronavirus devastating their health and the industry they heavily rely on -- as thousands of outside workers are trying to come to their villages for the annual summer fishing season. This rural region of Alaska is far from health facilities and will be hard-hit if the virus spreads here.
The Curyung Tribe is a formally recognized cooperating agency with the review process. It requested an extension from the Army Corps of Engineers to comment on the preliminary final environmental impact assessment, because both the tribe and the Army Corps are now urgently focused on responding to the pandemic. Despite a responsibility to listen to the tribes, the Army Corps, sadly, did NOT grant the tribal council enough time.
So now, in addition to pushing the EPA to protect Bristol Bay, Friends of the Earth organized more than 30,000 members to demand the Army Corps of Engineers halt Pebble Mine’s final environmental review and permitting until the COVID-19 crisis is over.
Right now, the Army Corps should be focused on protecting people from the coronavirus (which the Bristol Bay community is scrambling to do), not permitting a destructive mine opposed by the overwhelming majority of the local community.
But under Trump’s corrupt administration, anything is possible. That’s why we need your support to ramp up the campaign right now, so we can protect the Bristol Bay community's ecosystem, lives, and livelihoods.
Help protect Indigenous communities and one of the world's last great salmon runs. Donate $10 or more to Friends of the Earth today.
If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately:
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Thank you,
Marcie Keever,
Oceans and vessels program director,
Friends of the Earth
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