Mining ventures such as the Pebble Mine, and the EPA’s recommendations that further protections should be implemented added more optimism.Īnd many of Alaska’s most vocal opposition for Bristol Bay felt like the years of hard work in attempting to block the mine have turned the corner. Momentum has been building the past two years toward some semblance of long-term protection for the region from A December Recommended Determination from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 10 office could mean more permanent regulations to ban the gold and copper project for good. (U.S. The EPA will also receive input from the mine applicant, the Pebble Partnership, “about their intent to take corrective action to prevent unacceptable adverse effects.” These Bristol Bay sockeye salmon in Togiak National Wildlife Refuge are part of a $350-plus billion industry that opponents of the Pebble Mine have sought to protect. Army of Corps of Engineers, which originally approved the Pebble Partnership’s version of the Pebble Mine in the summer of 2020 before denying the permit application upon further review that fall. Next up from the EPA’s perspective is for the agency’s Office of Water to review Region 10’s analysis and get input from the U.S. “The Recommended Determination also proposes to restrict the use of certain waters of the United States in the South Fork Koktuli River, North Fork Koktuli River, and Upper Talarik Creek watersheds as disposal sites for the discharge of dredged or fill material associated with future proposals to develop the Pebble Deposit that would result in adverse effects similar or greater in nature and magnitude to those associated with the 2020 mine plan,” Region 10 reported. Region 10 cited that those projects “would result in the same or greater levels of loss or change to aquatic resources.” It would also be in effect for future mining proposals as part of any development of Pebble mineral deposits. “If affirmed by EPA’s Office of Water, this action would help protect salmon fishery areas that support world-class commercial and recreational fisheries and that have sustained Alaska Native communities for thousands of years, supporting a subsistence-based way of life for one of the last intact wild-salmon-based cultures in the world,” said EPA Region 10 administrator Casey Sixkiller.īased off comments submitted after the EPA’s 2022 Proposed Determination was released, Region 10 concluded that Pebble deposit discharge “would be likely to result in unacceptable adverse effects on salmon fishery areas in the South Fork Koktuli River, North Fork Koktuli River, and Upper Talarik Creek watersheds of Bristol Bay.”ĮPA’s Region 10, which covers the three Pacific Northwest states and Alaska, concluded that its Recommended Determination proposal would prohibit the specification of waters in the both the South Fork and North Fork of the Koktuli River “as disposal sites for the discharge of dredged or fill material for the construction and routine operation of the mine plan described in Pebble Limited Partnership’s JCWA Section 404 Permit application.” 1 news was welcome relief in one of the world’s last great salmon spawning waters, where fishermen and locals are pushing to permanently protect the region’s pristine rivers from projects like the Pebble Mine. The following appears in the January issue of Alaska Sporting Journal:Ĭalling it the “the third step in (a) four-step Clean Water Act Section 404(c) review process,” the Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 10 announced a recommendation to restrict mining use in Bristol Bay watersheds. With the help, this condemned mining project will soon be put to bed. 2022 saw considerable progress in the decades-long battle to protect Alaska's Bristol Bay.
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