The Environmental Protection Agency has extended until June 30 the comment period on the environmental impact of a proposed Alaska gold and copper mine that would be the largest mine in North America and, according to EPA's preliminary assessment, "probably cause the loss of between 54 and 89 miles of streams and between four and seven square miles of wetlands," Juliet Eilperin reports for The Washington Post.
The decision on the fate of the proposed Pebble Mine "may be one of the most important environmental decisions of President Obama's second term -- yet few in the Lower 48 are even aware that the fight is happening," Eilperin writes. The Anchorage Daily News added the italicized phrase to its version. (New York Times map; click it for larger version)
The mine would be "in a remote area that is home to several Alaskan native tribes and nearly half of the world's sockeye salmon," and six Alaska Native tribes have asked EPA to block the mine on grounds it would "harm the region's waterways, fish and wildlife," Eiperin writes. "Environmentalists argue that the Bristol Bay project poses a serious threat to the area's delicate ecosystem and to the local fishing industry. Fishing businesses and tribal leaders, who have often quarreled, have banded together to oppose it. . . . The two mining firms behind the project, Northern Dynasty and Anglo American, have struck back with a major lobbying and public-relations campaign aimed at derailing any EPA intervention."
The mine would be "in a remote area that is home to several Alaskan native tribes and nearly half of the world's sockeye salmon," and six Alaska Native tribes have asked EPA to block the mine on grounds it would "harm the region's waterways, fish and wildlife," Eiperin writes. "Environmentalists argue that the Bristol Bay project poses a serious threat to the area's delicate ecosystem and to the local fishing industry. Fishing businesses and tribal leaders, who have often quarreled, have banded together to oppose it. . . . The two mining firms behind the project, Northern Dynasty and Anglo American, have struck back with a major lobbying and public-relations campaign aimed at derailing any EPA intervention."