SEATTLE — The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday proposed protections for some Bristol Bay drainages, a move that — if finalized — would effectively block attempts to develop an open pit mine to extract gold, copper, silver and molybdenum in a Southwest Alaska region that sustains the world's biggest sockeye salmon runs.
The action, announced by the EPA's Seattle regional office, finds that mine development could result in unacceptable impacts on some salmon fishery areas within the Bristol Bay watershed. It is a proposed determination under Clean Water Act Section 404(c).
"Two decades of scientific study shows us that mining the Pebble Deposit would cause permanent damage to an ecosystem that supports a renewable economic powerhouse and has sustained fishing cultures since time immemorial," EPA Administrator Michael Reagan said in a written statement announcing the proposed action under Section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act. "Clearly, Bristol Bay and the thousands of people who rely on it deserve the highest level of protection."
