Pebble Mine Threatens One of Alaska’s Last Great Salmon Rivers

Since 2004, Alaska Natives, fishing councils, and locals in the town of Dillingham have formed a rare alignment against a proposed gold mine near Bristol Bay and the headwaters of two of the last great salmon rivers on Earth. 

If Pebble Mine were to proceed, Northern Dynasty Minerals, a Canadian company, would detonate thousands of tons of explosives in this mossy tundra to create a nearly 4,000-acre open-pit gold and copper mine along the braided waterways and lagoons feeding Bristol Bay. A tailings pond would contain enough slurry laced with sulfuric acid to cover Iceland. The sole barrier protecting the nearly 60 million salmon spawning annually in the bay from the toxic water would be an earthen dam. If the dam failed—the area is located in one of the most active earthquake zones in North America—marine mammals, fish, and dozens of species of birds, along with a booming fisheries economy worth upwards of half a billion dollars, could be devastated. 

Read the full article:

https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/2018-2-march-april/grapple/pebble-mine-threatens-alaska-salmon-bristol-bay