ANCHROAGE, Alaska — The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday moved to deal a major blow to the proposed Pebble mine, a large copper and gold prospect in a salmon-rich Southwest Alaska region that has been hotly contested for more than a decade.
Casey Sixkiller, the administrator for the EPA’s Pacific Northwest region that includes Alaska, recommended the agency stop the mine from being built under a rarely employed agency action called a “veto,” setting the stage for a final decision from EPA headquarters by February.
The EPA has said the mine’s construction and operation would destroy about 100 miles of stream that support salmon habitat, through the release of “dredged or fill material” in the mining area. That would cause “unacceptable adverse effects” to fishery areas in a watershed of “unparalleled ecological value,” supporting the agency’s special action.
