The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency took an unusually strong step Tuesday and blocked a proposed mine heralded by backers as the most significant undeveloped copper and gold resource in the world because of concerns about its environmental impact on a rich Alaska aquatic ecosystem that supports the world\u2019s largest sockeye salmon fishery.
\nThe move, cheered by Alaska Native tribes and environmentalists and condemned by some state officials and mining interests, deals a heavy blow to the proposed Pebble Mine. The intended site is in a remote area of southwest Alaska\u2019s Bristol Bay region, about 200 miles (322 kilometers) southwest of Anchorage.
\nThe mine site is accessible only by helicopter and snowmobile in winter, developer Pebble Limited Partnership said in a permit application with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. As proposed, the project called for a mining rate of up to 73 million tons a year.
\nAn appeal by the Pebble partnership of a separate rejection of a key federal permit is unresolved.
\nIn a statement, Pebble Limited Partnership CEO John Shively called the EPA\u2019s action \u201cunlawful\u201d and political and said litigation was likely. Shively has cast the project as key to the Biden administration\u2019s push to reach green energy goals and make the U.S. less dependent on foreign nations for such minerals.
\nThe Pebble Limited Partnership is owned Canada-based Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd.
\nThe Pebble deposit is near the headwaters of the Bristol Bay watershed, which supports a bounty of salmon \u201cunrivaled anywhere in North America,\u201d according to the EPA.
\nTuesday\u2019s announcement marks only the 14th time in the roughly 50-year history of the federal Clean Water Act that the EPA has flexed its powers to bar or restrict activities over their potential impact on waters, including fisheries. EPA Administrator Michael Regan said his agency\u2019s use of its so-called veto authority in this case \u201cunderscores the true irreplaceable and invaluable natural wonder that is Bristol Bay.\u201d
\nThe veto is a victory for the environment, economy and tribes of Alaska\u2019s Bristol Bay region, which have fought the proposal for more than a decade, said Joel Reynolds, western director and senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council.
\nThe mine would have jeopardized the region\u2019s salmon fishery, which brings 15,000 jobs to the area and supplies about half the world\u2019s sockeye salmon, Reynolds said. The 2022 harvest was more than 60 million fish, state officials reported last year.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a victory for science over politics. For biodiversity over extinction. For democracy over corporate power,\u201d Reynolds said.
\nThe EPA, citing an analysis by the Army Corps of Engineers, said discharges of dredged or fill material to build and operate the proposed mine site would result in a loss of about 100 miles (160 kilometers) of stream habitat, as well as wetlands.
\nThe Pebble partnership has maintained that the project can coexist with salmon. The partnership\u2019s website says the deposit is at the upper reaches of three \u201cvery small tributaries\u201d and expresses confidence any impacts on the fishery \u201cin the unlikely event of an incident\u201d would be \u201cminimal.\u201d
\nRepublican Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy said the EPA\u2019s veto was a dangerous precedent that could affect future development in the state, while state Attorney General Treg Taylor called the agency\u2019s action \u201clegally indefensible.\u201d
\n\u201cAlarmingly, it lays the foundation to stop any development project, mining or non-mining, in any area of Alaska with wetlands and fish-bearing streams,\u201d Dunleavy said.
\nAlaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski said she opposed the mine but that the EPA\u2019s veto shouldn\u2019t be allowed to jeopardize future mining operations in the state.
\n\u201cThis determination must not serve as precedent to target any other project in our state and must be the only time EPA ever uses its veto authority under the Clean Water Act in Alaska,\u201d Murkowski said in a statement.
\nWashington Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell called the EPA\u2019s action \u201cthe final nail in the coffin for the Pebble Mine\u201d and the culmination of a hard fought battle.
\n\u201cNow, we will have a thriving Bristol Bay salmon run for generations to come,\u201d she said.
\nTribes in the Bristol Bay region in 2010 petitioned the EPA to protect the area under the federal Clean Water Act. Alannah Hurley, executive director of United Tribes of Bristol Bay, said that to call the EPA announcement \u201cwelcome news is an understatement.\u201d
\nTim Bristol, executive director with the group SalmonState, lauded the EPA\u2019s decision, saying it \u201cmay be the most popular thing the federal government has ever done for Alaska.\u201d
\nThe EPA\u2019s decision is the latest in a yearslong back-and-forth over the project that has spanned administrations.
\nLeila Kimbrell, executive director for the Resource Development Council for Alaska Inc., called the decision \u201ca dangerous abuse of power and federal overreach.\u201d The National Mining Association, citing high demand for minerals and fragile global supply chains, said domestic mining has \u201cnever been more important.\u201d It said EPA\u2019s decision is \u201cin stark contrast to national and global realities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Apnews<\/p>\n
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