An Alaskan brown bear enjoys a Bristol Bay sockeye salmon (W. Tilt photo)
We’re on the doorstep of the final public comment period with the EPA on the Clean Water Act Section 404(c) process that could see protections secured for the watersheds threatened by the proposed Pebble Mine project in southwest Alaska’s Bristol Bay region. We believe that the comment period may commence before the end of this month. I wanted to share a few things with you as sort of a “heads up” and more concrete information will be forthcoming in the next couple of weeks.
Get caught up by tuning in to these two podcasts to hear more details on the status of the EPA process and what we expect is coming this summer:
Waterside Chat on Wednesday, May 25. Tom Sadler with the Marine Fish Conservation Network will host Dr. Sam Snyder with the Wild Salmon Center and myself to discuss the latest with the Bristol Bay campaign. Click the link to register, then tune in live at 3pm Eastern. If you can’t make that time, the event will be recorded to view at your convenience.
The Politics of Fish is the American Sportfishing Association’s bi-weekly podcast, hosted by ASA’s Vice President of Government Affairs Mike Leonard. Click the link after May 27 to hear Mike talk with Dr. Sam Snyder from the Wild Salmon Center about the Clean Water Act process and protecting Bristol Bay.
If you’re getting the Action Alerts from Business for Bristol Bay and Sportsman’s Alliance for Alaska, stand by for a social media toolkit that you can use to help spread the word about the public comment period and for a sport fishing, hunting, and outdoor recreation sign-on letter.
If you’re not part of the Bristol Bay network, contact Scott Hed at scott@sportsmansalliance4ak.org to join this effort. We’re going to give one final strong nudge to get this across the finish line!
For some inspiration and a reminder of just what we’ve been fighting for all these years, please take a moment to read It shouldn’t be ‘Groundhog Day’ in Bristol Bay, a recent editorial in the Anchorage Daily News written by a pair of young Alaskan outdoorsmen with boots on the ground and skin in the game in Bristol Bay. Connor and Cabot’s call to action will get you fired up to help us convince the EPA to finish the job in Bristol Bay.
“Clean Water Act protections for the Pebble deposit area, coupled with congressional legislation that permanently safeguards the region from large-scale mining, is the only thing that will end an ongoing whack-a-mole game of irresponsible mine proposals that compromise Bristol Bay’s fisheries and future, and go against the will of local Alaskans.”