The Issues
WHAT'S AT STAKEThe Pebble Mine site lies on state land in the heart of world class trout and salmon streams; a land veined with brooks and rivulets, riddled with pools and puddles. In addition, Bristol Bay is home to the world's largest commercial wild salmon fishery. Many of these fish spawn in the Kvichak and other tributaries in the Iliamna Lake area. The harvest and processing of Bristol Bay fish generates nearly $320 million a year and provides jobs for some 12,500 people. Sport fishermen spend nearly $60 million a year to experience the prize fishing in this area. Year after year, Bristol Bay produces millions of fish worth hundreds of millions of dollars, like no other place in the world.While Pebble directly threatens the health of our Bristol Bay fisheries, equally disturbing is the Federal Bureau of Land Management and Department of the Interior's proposed land management plan which recommends opening over a million acres of pristine federal wild lands in Bristol Bay to hard rock mining. Not only would the planned "Bristol Bay Mining District" mar the region's remarkably wild and beautiful landscape and productive fishery, but it risks grave consequences for the health of all living things downstream. Background Every year, millions of pacific salmon spawn in Bristol Bay rich waters, which provide some of the best habitat in the world for the trophy rainbows of any sport fisherman's dream. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the hard-rock mining industry is the single largest source of toxic releases in the US, and this industry has already caused enormous damage to rivers and fisheries around the world. The proposed Pebble Mine may pose the greatest single threat facing Alaska's salmon-bearing rivers and the people who depend on them.
Mineral exploration in the area began in the 80's and intensified at the Pebble site in 2001, when the Canadian company Northern Dynasty Minerals purchased the Pebble claim. Northern Dynasty's exploration quickly revealed a trove of rich rock. The Pebble Mine is now projected to produce more than 42 billion ounces of gold, 24.7 billion pounds of copper, and 1.3 pounds of molybdenum. A project the size of Pebble will require some 50 permits from federal and state agencies, regulating everything from air and water quality to effects on Native culture and subsistence. Northern Dynasty plans to submit its applications by 2008, which means if permitted for development, Pebble could be operational by 2010. The state of Alaska has never turned down an application for development of a large mine. In Bristol Bay, there is just too much at risk. The WORLD'S LARGEST commercial salmon fishery relies upon these pristine waters, worth far more than gold. |
Commercial, sport and subsistence fishing all depend on the wild salmon supported by Bristol Bay's healthy waters. The Bristol Bay commercial salmon harvest earnings accounts for nearly 33% of Alaska's total harvest earnings. In 2005, nearly 65,000 visitors came to this region for recreational opportunities to fish, hunt, and view wildlife. And for nearly 9000 years, Alaska natives have lived off Bristol Bay's land, waters, and of course, its fish. Mining development puts all this and much more at risk.
