Yes! EPA to protect Bristol Bay salmon fishery in move that could lead to Pebble Mine veto

[Blue_In_AK]

http://www.adn.com/2014/02/28/3350190/epa-starts-process-that-could.html

JUNEAU -- A federal agency announced Friday it is taking steps to protect the Bristol Bay sockeye salmon fishery, the largest in the world, under the Clean Water Act that could lead to a virtually unprecedented administrative veto of the proposed Pebble mine even before developers formally submit plans.

While the Environmental Protection Agency said it hadn't yet decided whether to block the mine, officials said the fishery was an "extraordinary resource" that needed special protection.

EPA has spent three years studying the potential impacts on salmon of a large, open pit mine in the Bristol Bay region, where half of the world's sockeye salmon are produced. Its final study came out in January after two drafts, 1.1 million public comments and two reviews by an independent panel of experts.

"Extensive scientific study has given us ample reason to believe that the Pebble Mine would likely have significant and irreversible negative impacts on the Bristol Bay watershed and its abundant salmon fisheries," said EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said in a written statement early Friday.

She told reporters Pebble was "a unique mine in a very unique place" and that the action did not change EPA's overall policies on mining.

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