News from Alaska

Enormous Mining Proposal Threatens World’s Greatest Salmon Rivers

The Bristol Bay Watershed produces the world’s greatest commercial salmon fishery and internationally renowned salmon and trout runs that attract anglers from all over the world. The waters in this region have long been an integral part of the State’s economy and have provided sustainable jobs, subsistence foods and other benefits to Alaskans for generations.

Today, the State of Alaska and Canadian mining company want to create North America’s largest open pit gold mine and a 896-square mile mining district in the headwaters of Bristol Bay. At the same time, the Bureau of Land Management is trying to open 3.6 million acres of vital fish and wildlife habitat in the Bristol Bay Watershed to hardrock mining.

What most people don’t know is that the hard-rock mining industry is the single largest source of toxic releases and one of the most destructive industries in America. The proposed Pebble Mine may pose the greatest single threat to this area’s salmon-bearing rivers and the people who depend on them.

Similar open pit mines have devastated entire watersheds and surrounding fisheries throughout the United States and around the world. If opened, the Pebble Mine could pave the way for many more destructive mines.

The Bristol Bay Alliance is a group of fishermen, business owners and local citizens working to help ensure that the people who depend on Bristol Bay’s natural resources have the most influential voice of any group regarding the future of our land and waters. An open pit mine could threaten their communities by polluting their clean rivers that provide them with drinking water and plentiful fish. The Pebble mine is not a done deal. They want to have a voice in what happens in their backyard.

Please support their efforts.