EPA Proposes Limits to Protect Wild Salmon, Prevent Massive Pebble Mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay

WASHINGTON (July 18, 2014) – The Environmental Protection Agency today formally proposed limitations that would block the massive, ill-conceived Pebble Mine project, a controversial proposal to mine gold and copper at the headwaters of the pristine Bristol Bay wild salmon fishery in Alaska.

Joel Reynolds, Western Director and Senior Attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council, issued the following statement:

"EPA’s action today is an essential response to the inevitable devastation that would be caused by the Pebble Mine.  The agency’s proposal is measured, solidly grounded in science, and directly responsive to the overwhelming local opposition to the project.  The head of the watershed of the greatest salmon fishery on the planet is no place to gamble on one of the largest mining operations ever conceived. It is simply the wrong mine in the wrong place -- as Mitsubishi realized in 2011, as Anglo-American realized last September, and as Rio Tinto recognized in April.

“NRDC and its members commend EPA for responding to the repeated and urgent requests of the tribes and communities of Bristol Bay to use its legal authority under the federal Clean Water Act to protect them and their communities, the wild salmon and other natural resources of the region, and their way of life.  We strongly support today’s proposal and urge that it be adopted.”