EPA moves to block Alaska's planned Pebble Mine; House moves to stop EPA from blocking project

The Environmental Protection Agency is trying to block the controversial Pebble Beach mine project in Alaska, while the House is trying to block the EPA from doing so. (MCT photo by Luis Sinco: To transport ore and equipment, the gold and copper Pebble Mine would require a 104-mile road along Alaska’s Pedro Bay, above, and Lake Iliamna, the state's largest body of fresh water, cutting through undeveloped forest and wetlands.)

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On Friday EPA announced "it’s proposing tough new limits for gold and copper mining in the Bristol Bay watershed—a move that would greatly diminish the scale of the controversial Pebble Mine project," Linsdsay Abrams reports for Salon. "The proposal, issued under the Clean Water Act, is necessary 'to protect the world’s greatest salmon fishery from what would most certainly be one of the largest open pit mine developments ever conceived of,' EPA regional administrator Dennis McLerran told reporters."

While the move "won’t block the mine outright, it will effectively rob it of that largest-ever status, protecting Alaska’s important sockeye salmon fishery in the process," Abrams writes. In January EPA said building the mine would destroy between 24 to 94 miles of salmon-supporting streams and 1,300 to 5,350 acres of wetlands, ponds and lakes. In March the agency began taking steps to block the mine.

Lawmakers have already responded to the EPA, with House members "pushing a bill to keep the EPA from blocking the mine, despite opposition from Washington state lawmakers who say the project could be devastating to the fishing industry in their state," Sean Cockerham reports for McClatchy Newspapers. The mine developer, Northern Dynasty Minerals, which lost most of its financial support when backers pulled out of the project, "is suing the EPA, seeking an injunction to prevent the agency from moving to stop the project."

"After a long series of setbacks, the mine won a small victory Wednesday when the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved the bill for a vote in the full House," Cockerham writes. "The measure would have scant chance of making it through the Democratic-controlled Senate and surviving a likely presidential veto. But mine opponents fear it might become a platform to revive the project’s fortunes, particularly if Republicans take control of the Senate after the November midterm elections." (Read more)