{"id":19459,"date":"2022-12-14T22:19:29","date_gmt":"2022-12-14T22:19:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wildsalmoncenter.org\/?p=19459"},"modified":"2022-12-14T22:19:29","modified_gmt":"2022-12-14T22:19:29","slug":"pebble-mine-winter-is-coming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wildsalmoncenter.org\/2022\/12\/14\/pebble-mine-winter-is-coming\/","title":{"rendered":"Pebble Mine: Winter is Coming"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The EPA is now one step away from stopping this dangerous mine at the headwaters of Bristol Bay. <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Twelve years ago, Tribal representatives first asked<\/a> the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to stop a massive proposed open pit mine at the headwaters of Alaska\u2019s Nushagak and Kvichak rivers in Bristol Bay: the planet\u2019s most productive remaining salmon region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the intervening 12 years, you\u2019ve heard a lot from us about Pebble Mine. We\u2019ve asked you to speak up for Bristol Bay throughout EPA\u2019s initial public comment period<\/a> for Clean Water Act protections in 2014, and help us fight a rollback of those proposed protections<\/a> under the Trump Administration in 2017 and 2018. In 2019 and 2020, we requested that you tell the U.S. Army Corps to reject Pebble\u2019s permit; the agency eventually did<\/a>. Along the way, we\u2019ve let you know how Pebble tried to rig the permitting process<\/a>, and shared the science on Pebble\u2019s unacceptable risks to fish, wildlife<\/a>, Tribes, and fishing communities<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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WSC joined Senator Maria Cantwell and salmon advocates at the Rally for Bristol Bay in Seattle’s Fishermen’s Terminal in January 2014.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This long fight has tested our patience, resilience, and optimism. But as 2022 draws to a close, we have never felt stronger. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because each successive week this winter means EPA is that much closer to finally ending Pebble Mine<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As 2022 draws to a close, we have never felt stronger. Because each successive week this winter means EPA is that much closer to finally ending Pebble Mine.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In early December, the EPA\u2019s Region 10 office in Seattle sent a letter to the agency\u2019s federal headquarters recommending that the agency use the Clean Water Act<\/a> to prohibit hard rock mining waste disposal in the Nushagak and Kvichak headwaters. The move was based on Pebble\u2019s mining proposal submitted in 2020 and rejected by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers later that year because of threats it posed to the Bristol Bay salmon fishery. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Alaska, Bristol Bay, fish, lake, salmon, sockeye, underwater (PC: Jason Ching)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

EPA\u2019s final decision, expected within two months of December\u2019s recommendation, would effectively prevent Pebble from moving forward in any form<\/strong>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is the most important salmon stronghold we have left and it deserves special protections,\u201d says Wild Salmon Center CEO Guido Rahr. \u201cOnce a mine like Pebble is built, there\u2019s a permanent threat of toxic waste spill, which could ruin this priceless salmon fishery. EPA is right to move toward a final decision in  this process, for the sake of local communities and ecosystems and also for the global food system, which now depends on a growing share of wild salmon from Bristol Bay.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is the most important salmon stronghold we have left and it deserves special protections. EPA is right to move toward a final decision in  this process.\u201d<\/p>WSC President & CEO Guido Rahr<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Last year, 78 million wild sockeye salmon returned to Bristol Bay, a counterweight to mixed returns in other Pacific salmon fisheries. While shifting ocean conditions and heat waves on land continue to challenge salmon life cycles elsewhere in the North Pacific, Bristol Bay\u2019s productivity has risen in recent years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fishing off the Nushagak River, Bristol Bay, Alaska (PC: Perry Broderick)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The fishery supports livelihoods and subsistence harvests for 31 Alaska Native tribes and 15,000 commercial fishers each summer season. It\u2019s also a destination for sport fishers from all over the globe. All told, Bristol Bay’s fishery is worth $2.2 billion annually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, with this fight well into our third presidential administration, Clean Water Act protections are finally within sight<\/strong>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Should EPA take this final step in early 2023, it will validate the long struggle of the people of Bristol Bay, who have carried the heaviest burden and stand to lose the most from this mine. But it will also redeem the hard work of millions of salmon advocates around the world\u2014advocates like you\u2014who have spoken up in defense of Bristol Bay for so many years. Since 2010, EPA and the U.S. Army Corps have received nearly 4 million public comments in support of a protected Bristol Bay. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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More than\u00a031 federally recognized Alaska Native tribes in Bristol Bay rely on subsistence salmon fishing, continuing a tradition several thousand years old.\u00a0(PC: Ben Knight)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s remarkable that throughout this long fight, opposition to Pebble Mine has only grown stronger and stronger,\u201d says WSC Alaska Director Emily Anderson. \u201cBristol Bay is globally important, and will without a doubt be much safer if EPA moves forward and finalizes Clean Water Act protections.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThroughout this long fight, opposition to Pebble Mine has only grown stronger and stronger. Bristol Bay will without a doubt be much safer if EPA finalizes Clean Water Act protections.\u201d<\/p>WSC Alaska Director Emily Anderson<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n

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