Protect Bristol Bay: We need to stop this mine
Alaska’s Bristol Bay is teeming with wildlife. It’s also now one giant step closer to becoming home to Pebble Mine, a proposed open-pit gold and copper mine.
Bristol Bay is in terrible danger.
On Feb. 20, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ released its 1,400-page draft environmental impact statement for the Pebble Mine project. But it’s what the statement doesn’t say that’s most important.
The biggest oversights? It doesn’t consider the impacts of spills over the life of the project, of dam failure, or for the future of the land in the area.1
A mine doesn’t belong in this special place.
Bristol Bay is home to the largest sockeye salmon fishery in the world. And the watershed also supports 29 types of fish, more than 190 bird species, and more than 40 kinds of land animals.2 It boasts wetlands, rivers and streams — cascades of blue waters, swimming schools of red sockeye salmon, and bold green trees. This is truly a special place.
But mining companies see this land as a source of gold and copper — and are currently seeking to open the area up to an open-pit mine, a 188-mile natural gas pipeline, roads for a transportation corridor including 18 miles crossing a lake, and a port facility.3
Add your name to help protect Bristol Bay.
This project is moving full steam ahead, and we need to rally as many voices of opposition as we can to stop it. The comment period is now open.
Breaking ground for a mine puts the lush green landscape, beautiful blooming tundra and diverse wetlands around Bristol Bay at risk. The potential profit from gold and copper simply doesn’t compare to the intrinsic value of the land, the water and the wildlife.
Bristol Bay needs us, especially now. Submit your public comment to protect this special place today.
1. Isabelle Ross, “U.S. Army Corps releases Pebble Mine’s draft EIS,” Alaska Public Media, February 20, 2019.
2. “About Bristol Bay,” United States Environmental Protection Agency, Accessed June 6, 2018.
3. “Pebble Project EIS,” U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Accessed June 6, 2018.