Help Bristol Bay Today— Submit a Comment to the Army Corps!
The threat of North America’s largest copper and gold mine has loomed over the headwaters of Bristol Bay, Alaska for more than a decade. It’s no time for complacency when it comes to Pebble mine.
This blog is a part of our America’s Most Endangered Rivers® series on Bristol Bay, Alaska.
Pebble Mine. The project that just won’t go away.
In 2018, American Rivers ranked the Rivers of Bristol Bay as #2 on our annual list of America’s Most Endangered Rivers®. We have been fighting the development of a major mine called Pebble Mine in this area since at least 2006 (our first endangered rivers listing). In other words, for more than a decade, the threat of North America’s largest copper and gold mine has loomed over the headwaters of Bristol Bay, Alaska.
This project would directly impact the world’s largest and greatest sockeye salmon run, putting in jeopardy thousands of American jobs, a 10,000-year cultural tradition of subsistence, and a huge sport fishing and tourism economy.
Bears in Katmai National Park | Photo by Cheryl Strahl
Today we have another chance to ensure the Pebble mine doesn’t put this all at risk. Please click here to comment today.
All told, the proposed Pebble mine would threaten an existing long-term sustainable economy valued at more than $1.5 billion annually, for a short-term mine.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is reviewing Pebble Limited Partnership’s permit application and has released a document, called the Draft Environmental Impact Statement, intended to outline the risks and benefits of the proposed Pebble mine, after an extremely rushed and non-transparent process.
So, it’s no surprise that the 1,400+ page document landed with a pretty heavy thud in Alaska. The document shows Pebble’s proposal would permanently destroy more than 80 miles of streams and 3,500 of acres of wetlands. It makes clear Pebble’s current application is just the first step in what would become an industrial mining district in Bristol Bay; the economics don’t pan out any other way. That’s why a majority of Alaskans still oppose the proposed Pebble mine.
Bristol Bay | Photo by Kai Raymond
Please take a moment to stand up for the communities of Bristol Bay who rely on healthy fisheries and tell the Army Corps to deny this permit— click here to submit a comment.
It’s no time for complacency when it comes to Pebble mine. Please tell the agency reviewing Pebble’s most important permit to follow the science and stop the mine. Please take action today.
Also, if you live in Alaska, consider making your comments at a public hearing:
- Naknek: Monday, March 25, 3:30 PM – 7:00 PM at Naknek School
- Kokhanok: Tuesday, March 26, 3:30 PM – 7:00 PM at Community Hall
- Newhalen: Wednesday, March 27, 3:30 PM – 7:00 PM at Newhalen School
- Igiugig: Thursday, March 28, 3:30 PM – 7:00 PM at Igiugig School
- New Stuyahok: Friday, March 29, 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM at Community Building
- Nondalton: Monday, April 8, 3:30 PM – 7:00 PM at Tribal Center
- Dillingham: Tuesday, April 9, 4:00 PM – 9:00 PM at Elementary School
- Homer: Thursday, April 11, 3:30 PM – 9:00 PM at High School
- Anchorage: Tuesday, April 16, 12:00 PM – 8:00 PM at Dena’ina Center
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10 responses to “Help Bristol Bay Today— Submit a Comment to the Army Corps!”
Here is the email I have sent to every one of my Congressional and Senate representatives.
Dear Senator Graham, I am writing to you after seeing a recent article on the EPA decision to lift the sanctions in Bristol Bay Alaska, for the Pebble Beach mining project. This is simply an outrage!
While in the Air Force (I am a retired combat veteran) I was stationed in Alaska and spent a lot of time in the Bristol Bay watershed, camping, fishing, hiking, and it is one of the most beautiful and precious areas in the world, let alone US. This total disregard to the opinions of the life long environmental scientist is just about criminal, and paints a horrific picture of the current administration (and by proxy the Republican party!) That business interests trump everything, and the natural resources of the US are open for the raping, in the spirit of short sighted economic gains. Once an ecosystem as complex and old as Bristol Bay and its feeder rivers and creeks is corrupted and the salmon spawns are broken, it can never, ever, be “fixed” or replaced.
Bristol Bay watershed is the most productive salmon ecosystem in North America.
Please help raise a voice to block the US Army Core of Engineers from approving this plan.
Thank you,
James Tollack
i hope human will not destroy this amazing wild place .
Please do not mine here. You know it is wrong. Half the worlds salmon come from here. Greed has to stop. please don’t You are only propagating bad things if you do this. It will be death of the water and fish and other wildlife that depends on it.
Save the river we need to do something positive for the environment future, resource money dries up when it’s all gone it’s just not worth it…….
I am against Pebble mine it is in an earthquake prone area, there are no safeguards against that. All it takes is one big quake and that could be worse then the Exxon Valdez oil spill. I commercial fished Bristol Bay in the eighties and it is just to special of a place to take a chance on devastating for the greed of gold. How many times do the people have to say NO PEBBLE MINE!!!
Please stop the mine, it’s not worth the negative impacts on the ecosystem, the fishery is to important to jeopardize
Please do not let the last great strongholds of the sockeye (Illiamna) and Chinook (Mulchatna – Nushigak) go the way of the buffalo. Red gold is more valuable than shiny objects!
Bristol Bay fisheries is world fishery and a national treasure. Any mining activity would severely harm and possibly devastate the to extinction the salmon in Bristol Bay.
This is so important! America does not have many more wild places like this left. We have squandered them all. Once these Salmon are gone they will be gone forever. There is gold enough in lots of places (like Nevada) where it can be mined without endangering a fragile environment. This wild place is worth more than gold! btw I am a conservative republican–I only mention that because normally environmental issues are the purview of the left but this issue crosses party lines–we don’t have any more places like Bristol Bay, please do not allow this mine to be built.
The most amazing show of greed over logic and a great example of humanity crapping where it eats is pebble mine.