From TU:
Sportsmen and business owners throughout the Bristol Bay region and Alaskans remain steadfast in their opposition to the proposed Pebble Mine despite today’s announcement that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Pebble Partnership have reached a settlement agreement.
During the EPA’s peer reviewed scientific assessment and review of the threats posed by the proposed Pebble Mine to Bristol Bay’s world-class fisheries, more than 1.6 million Americans and 99 percent of all individuals who submitted comments were in favor of up-front protections for the Bristol Bay region. Bristol Bay is a source of sustainable American jobs, a commercial fishing industry valued at $1.5 billion per year and a dream vacation destination for hunters and anglers around the world.
Brian Kraft of Alaska Sportsman’s Lodges replied with the following statement:
“The sport fishing community, which supports a $250 million-a-year economy in the Bristol Bay region, depends upon the continued sustainable health of the region in order to operate our businesses. These perfectly functioning rivers sustain life that in turn sustains our businesses. The science behind the EPA’s proposed determination has been through two massive peer reviews and countless public testimony. Regardless of the political desires of the current Administration, the work that the EPA has done examining information provided by the mining company should not be discarded.”
Nelli Williams of Trout Unlimited in Anchorage replied with the following statement:
“This is an absurd step that risks thousands of American jobs and half the world’s sockeye salmon. Pebble needs to wake up. Nothing has changed the fact that a vast majority of Alaskans don’t want the Pebble Mine in Bristol Bay. Nothing has changed the fact that Pebble would cause irreparable harm. We will be looking to our elected officials and decision makers to ensure they don’t turn their back on the people of Alaska. We have said, and will continue to say, that Pebble is not welcome here. Alaskans aren’t going anywhere, we are in this fight for the long haul.”
