By Jessica Goad | Climate Progress
On Wednesday, the Environmental Protection Agency released what is potentially its strongest scientific statement yet about the threat that large-scale copper and gold mining poses to one of Alaska’s most pristine and productive regions — an issue that the Washington Post referred to as “the biggest environmental decision facing Obama you’ve never heard of.”
The agency’s peer-reviewed “Assessment of Potential Mining Impacts on Salmon Ecosystems of Bristol Bay, Alaska” states unequivocally that:
…large-scale mining in the Bristol Bay watershed poses risks to salmon and Alaska Native cultures. Bristol Bay supports the largest sockeye salmon fishery in the world, producing nearly 50 percent of the world’s wild sockeye salmon with runs averaging 37.5 million fish each year.
While the EPA’s scientific study does not focus on any particular mining proposal, it takes into account realistic scenarios including the Pebble Project, a proposed copper and gold mine that would be one of the largest open pit mines in the world and potentially the biggest in North America.
