ConservAmerica Opposes the Pebble Mine
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 24, 2020
CONTACT: media@conservamerica.org
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ConservAmerica Opposes the Pebble Mine
WASHINGTON, DC – ConservAmerica today pointed to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ environmental assessment of the proposed Pebble gold and copper mine in Southwest Alaska as the reason the mine should not move forward.
The agency’s final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) outlines the potential impacts of the mine on the land and water as well as mitigation and possible alternative development scenarios as part of a lengthy federal permitting process. A final decision on whether to issue the necessary federal permits for the mine is not expected until later this year. The project would still face review by the state agencies in Alaska.
“After reviewing the environmental review, we remain concerned that the mine plan proposed by the developers is not compatible with the Bristol Bay region of Alaska,” said Jeff Kupfer, president of ConservAmerica. “As the late Ted Stevens previously said, ‘it is the wrong mine for the wrong place.’ We agree and so strongly urge the Administration to deny the required federal permits.”
According to the EIS, the project will result in the permanent loss of between 2,226 and 2,261 acres of wetlands and other waters, including between 104.1 and 105.8 miles of streams, depending upon the alternative selected. Moreover, the EIS fails to consider the potential for a catastrophic failure of the large tailings dam, which even the Corps’ experts raised as a serious concern in a December 2019 seismic stability analysis of the proposed dam.
The Pebble mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay region has been controversial since it was first proposed 15 years ago. The area is believed to have one of the world’s largest deposits of gold and copper, but the mine would also straddle salmon-producing headwaters of the valuable Bristol Bay fishery – home to nearly half of the world’s wild salmon. Pebble’s developers applied for a major construction-related permit to discharge fill material into federal waters in 2017.
ConservAmerica previously hosted an educational webinar on the Pebble Project with national experts. That discussion can be viewed on ConservAmerica’s website.
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ConservAmerica is a nonprofit organization that advocates for balanced market-based solutions to conservation, environmental, and energy challenges. Visit us at ConservAmerica and follow us on Twitter @ConservAmerica and Facebook.