July 4, 2019

Trump’s EPA May Be About to Screw Over America’s Biggest Wild Salmon Run

https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2019/06/bristol-bay-salmon-pebble-mine-scott-pruitt-trump-mining/?fbclid=IwAR3wPAPBI_oVgClXfFslobDLuUfViD4xHOhI9YrN85N9sf7f1ClNM5R5xH4
"On one side is Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd., a Canadian mining company eyeing a deposit of millions of tons of gold, copper, and molybdenum ore located near the headwaters of two rivers that drain into Bristol Bay, in southwest Alaska.* In its way stand conservationists, Alaska Natives, and fishing operators, who say the company’s proposed Pebble Mine could contaminate the two river systems, endangering the ecosystem for the 40 million salmon that migrate into the pristine bay each summer. The public has until July 1 to comment on the US Army Corps of Engineers’ environmental impact statement issued for Northern Dynasty’s mining project. The United Tribes of Bristol, a consortium of 15 tribes in the Bristol Bay Area, released a statement calling the assessment “completely inadequate,” and said that it “ignores the many valid concerns about the devastating impacts this project will bring.” The American Fisheries Society, a group of more than 8,000 scientists and academics, wrote in its public comment that the Army Corp’s evaluation “fails to meet basic standards of scientific rigor,” underestimating impacts and risks to fish and their habitats while drawing conclusions unsupported by data or other evidence."