Proposed Alaska Mine is 'Environmental Tragedy Waiting to Happen'

A proposed mine at the head of the Bristol Bay Fishery Reserve threatens Alaskan communities and ecosystems, according to environmental and investor groups opposing the project.

Nearly 30 investor organizations representing over $170 billion in assets are urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to initiate a review process under the Clean Water Act to evaluate the mine waste impacts of the proposed Pebble Mine on Alaska’s Bristol Bay watershed, which produces roughly half of the world’s commercial supply of wild sockeye salmon.

Led by Trillium Asset Management Corp. (Trillium) and Calvert Investments (Calvert), the organizations hold over 13 million shares in Anglo American plc, the UK-based mining company behind the proposed mine.

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is also gearing up against the project, and intends to run full-page adds in the Financial Times of London today and the New York Times on Earth Day to draw attention to the mine.

NRDC says the proposed mine includes large dams holding back an estimated 10 billion tons of contaminated mining waste. Because the area is prone to earthquakes, the group–and spokesperson Robert Redford–says the mine is an "environmental tragedy waiting to happen."

Pebble Mine is a copper, gold and molybdenum mine proposed by U.K.-based
Anglo-American and Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd of Canada. The combined
impact and risks associated with a proposed mine in this region are
unprecedented. Under current plans, the project would involve the
largest open pit mine in North America, enormous toxic tailing ponds and
a significant infrastructure footprint in critically important habitat.
A peer reviewed 2010 risk assessment by The Nature Conservancy studied
the impacts of such large-scale mining in the Bristol Bay region, and
concluded that the risks to wild salmon populations are "very high," and
that it is cause for significant concern regarding the long-term
abundance and sustainability of salmon in the region.

The Bristol Bay region of Alaska is the site of the largest remaining runs of wild sockeye salmon and is the home of Alaska Native people who continue the subsistence fishing and hunting traditions of their ancestors. Bristol Bay is an important economic driver for the commercial fishing, sport hunting and sport fishing industries of North America, generating $450 million in annual revenue and providing some 10,000 jobs.

This investor statement comes on the heels of the EPA’s announcement in February in response to petitions by Bristol Bay native tribes and corporations, commercial fishermen, businesses, and others that the Agency would conduct a scientific assessment of the Bristol Bay watershed to evaluate the suitability of large-scale development in the region. Many observers see the assessment as a precursor to a full EPA 404(c) review.

NRDC said it is encouraged that Japan’s Mitsubishin Corporation has pulled out of the project, following a petition campaign. And the group hopes financier Rio Tinto will do the same.