I am stunned, right now, to read that the Trump administration plans to halt the permitting process that would have allowed construction of the Pebble Mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay.
Holy crap, this administration blocking a huge construction and extraction project? Doing something good for the environment?
To quote our next president, “this is a huge fuckin’ deal.”
The Pebble Mine, if completed, would be one of the world’s largest open pit copper mines. Other minerals would also be mined from the site.
And while, yes, the world needs these minerals, this mine is simply in the wrong location. You see, Bristol Bay, in Southwest Alaska, has the largest remaining runs of wild salmon in the world. When you are in a grocery store and see Atlantic salmon, that is a farmed fish. But if you see something labeled wild salmon, or canned salmon, the fish was almost assuredly caught and processed in Bristol Bay. (Alaska and Canada do have other runs of wild salmon, most notably Copper River fish from Alaska, but Bristol Bay is by far the largest fishery.)
Alaska fish stocks are quite strong, with excellent management by the State of Alaska and the federal government. Millions of fish are annually harvested from Bristol Bay. And multi-millions more return up their home streams to spawn.
Millions, maybe billions, of dollars are raised each year from both commercial fishing and tourists who fly into the remote area to catch the fish of their dreams.
When I was younger, I spent one summer at a cannery in the village of Naknek, which is one of the main processing sites for salmon. I worked 15 hour days helping a Japanese crew make salmon caviar out of the fish eggs. Long, cold, tiring work, and those memories stay with me to this day.
So the fear with this mine is that pollution that could come from it would harm this world-class fishery.
This is the reason that the permitting process is now on hold. From the Anchorage Daily News:
The Trump administration will pause the permitting process for the controversial Pebble gold and copper mine in Alaska on Monday on the grounds that the firm must do more to address how it will harm the environment, according to three individuals briefed on the decision who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
The move represents a major blow to the proposed Pebble mine, which was vetoed under Barack Obama but has been revived under the Trump administration. Several high-profile Republicans, including the president’s eldest son, Fox News host Tucker Carlson and Vice President Mike Pence’s former chief of staff Nick Ayers, have campaigned against the project on the grounds it could harm the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery in Bristol Bay.
The Obama administration had blocked the mine, but the Trump administration had reversed that policy, because of course they have reversed anything good that Obama did. Until now.
If elected, Joe Biden has said that he would block this project.
It may very well be that Trump Junior got into his father’s head about the danger of this mine. Junior has been to Bristol Bay to go fishing and has spoken against the Pebble Mine.
Now, this may not put a full halt to the mine, as the process is being halted so that the environmental concerns can be addressed.
Here’s Bloomberg News:
The Corps is said to be sending a letter to the mine noting that the project may pose significant environmental degradation. While that doesn’t spell the absolute end of the road for the project, it’s a signal that a lot more work may be required before a permit would be granted -- a move that could push a final decision on the project until after the November election.
While the State of Alaska is, of course, fully supportive of the mine, most residents of the area are strongly opposed because of the threat to the fishery and their livelihoods.
More detailed information can be found at Save Bristol Bay and the Wild Salmon Center.
And really, don’t we want to keep this safe:
