Photo: USFWS

But if the proposed Pebble Mine is built, it could have devastating consequences for this wilderness paradise, according to a newly revised watershed assessment on large-scale mining in Bristol Bay by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)—which considered 233,000 public comments, consulted with tribes, and received input from independent scientists and peer reviewers. The report finds that even in a best case scenario—with no leaks or failures—the massive mine would destroy up to 90 miles of salmon streams and up to 4,800 acres of wetlands, and produce acidic and toxic-laden waters.

As a result, local grizzlies, wolves, bald eagles, and other wildlife that consume salmon will all be impacted. So will Alaska Natives, who have relied on subsistence fishing for thousands of years. And so will the commercial fishery, which, according to a new report by researchers at the University of Alaska’s Institute for Social and Economic Research, provides 12,000 jobs and about $500 million annually in direct income to workers across the country.

All of this is at risk from Pebble Mine, the colossal gold and copper mine proposed at the headwaters of Bristol Bay that would generate up to 10 billion tons of toxic mine waste stored in massive earthen dams covering over 10 square miles. Even under the best conditions, it would be virtually impossible to keep the toxic waste from leaking into rivers and streams, putting salmon—which are highly sensitive to the slightest increases in certain metals like copper–at great risk.

And if the dams break, it would be absolutely devastating to the river and wildlife downstream. Just last month, a massive landslide at Bingham Canyon mine in Utah—which registered as a 5.1 magnitude earthquake  and engulfed tens of millions of dollars in mining equipment and infrastructure—was a preview of the disaster that could occur if Pebble Mine is built. Incredibly, Pebble Mine would be twice the size of Bingham Canyon mine and located in an active earthquake zone.

The EPA’s review provides more than enough information to know that Pebble Mine would pose enormous, irreversible harm to this critically important watershed, and the wildlife and people that depend on it. Yet, despite these risks and the overwhelming opposition to Pebble Mine, foreign mining corporations are charging full steam ahead.

Now is the time for the Obama administration to act. We only have until May 31^st to comment on these new findings and urge the EPA to use its power under the Clean Water Act to stop this disastrous project. If we don’t speak up now, Pebble Mine could devastate this wilderness paradise and the rich community of wildlife that calls it home.

Help protect salmon and grizzlies from toxic mining waste—send a message to the EPA today.

Photo: Colin Ruggiero

New NWF Report Tells Story of Mining and Tribes

The National Wildlife Federation has just released a new report, Honoring the River: How Hardrock Mining Impacts Tribal Communities, which tells the story of mining and tribes, from the checkered history of federal legislation allowing mining companies to lease minerals on tribal lands—often without tribal consent—to the many new mines being proposed near tribal communities and lands.

Photo: Earthworks

One of the key points of the report is that tribes view water as sacred, something to be honored. Our government could certainly learn from this perspective. Despite its commitment to clean water and environmental justice, the Administration has been slow to make the relatively simple rule changes needed to close the loopholes in the Clean Water Act. It hasn’t honored the river.

Tribes Speak Out Against Mining

Even as tribes continue to suffer from poisoned rivers, contaminated sacred sites, and other devastation caused by old and abandoned mines, they face a new round of threats. Mines are being proposed from Alaska’s Bristol Bay, a watershed that supports the greatest remaining runs of wild sockeye salmon on earth, to the Great Lakes basin, which contains 84 percent of North America’s supply of fresh surface water.

Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Chairman Mike Wiggins is fighting to stop the permitting of the largest iron-ore, open-pit mine in the world slated for the headwaters of the Bad River, six miles from the reservation border in northern Wisconsin ceded territory. The Gogebic Taconite mine’s proposed location threatens the Kakagon and Bad River Sloughs, a 16,000-acre wetland complex at the mouths of the two rivers that contains valuable flora and fauna, including wild rice beds of cultural significance to the tribes. These resources are within the Bad River Reservation and contain 40 percent of the Lake Superior Basin coastal wetlands.

“This ecosystem is as good as what we have left in the state and in the world. We all have an impact on the environment. We really have to humble ourselves. Environmental stewardship is a sacrifice.”

-Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Chairman Mike Wiggins

We may not be able to undo all of the inequities of the past, but we can learn from the original stewards of the land and require mines to operate responsibly. Surely nobody can argue that mines should be able to store untreated industrial waste in living waters. Closing the mining loopholes would not stop hardrock mining, but it would help protect tribal communities, all of our communities, from the chemicals, heavy metals, and acid mine drainage produced by modern mines.

Urge the EPA and Army Corps to close these mining loopholes to protect our nation’s waters and wildlife.

The CWA reflects a number of national policies, but one of the most fundamental is that we will no longer allow our waters to be treated as industrial waste dumps.  By many measures, the act has been a profound success.  Rivers no longer catch on fire and pipes spewing untreated waste directly into the nearest waterway are no longer common sights.

Unfortunately, one industry has refused to move with the times. Hardrock mining companies are regularly taking advantage of two loopholes in the CWA in order to store millions of tons of untreated waste in our wetlands, streams, and lakes–a practice that is tolerated only because most mines are developed in rural areas with limited economic alternatives or political clout.

Lower Slate Lake in Alaska, before and after the Kensington gold mine waste dumping (photo on left: Irene Alexakos; on right: Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation).

While storing tailings in the nation’s waters is convenient for mining companies, it is not a necessary way of doing business. Almost 30 years ago, EPA found that mines could operate profitably without discharging their untreated wastes into waters. The agency adopted strict pollution standards which, if enforced today, would prohibit many of the mining industry’s most harmful practices.

Wouldn’t it be a wonderful 40th birthday present if EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers used their authority to close the two loopholes in the Clean Water Act that allow hardrock mines to ignore decades-old pollution standards and poison our waters?

Isn’t it time that the hardrock mining industry was required to play by the same CWA rules as everyone else?

Urge the EPA and Army Corps to protect our nation’s waters and wildlife from toxic mine pollution.

TAKE ACTION BY JULY 23rd: Tell the Environmental Protection Agency to protect Bristol Bay’s grizzlies from Pebble mine. Photo: USFWS.

A: The Pebble gold and copper mine would be both an underground and open pit mine (click here to see amazing images of open pit mines from space)–about two miles wide and several thousand feet deep. Most of the rock removed from the pit will be waste rock, which often contains acid-generating sulfides, arsenic, lead, mercury, and cyanide. Once the minerals are processed and recovered, the remaining rock becomes another form of mining waste called tailings, which also can contain up to three dozen dangerous chemicals.

The Pebble mine will discharge up to 10 billion tons of these toxic tailings that will need to be stored forever behind massive earthen dams. The largest of the dams containing these toxic slurry lakes would be over 700 feet tall and 4 miles long.

Q: What makes Pebble mine so much more dangerous than other mines?

A: The Bristol Bay region in southwest Alaska–the proposed location of Pebble mine–is one of the worst places on earth for a mine (see some spectacular photos of Bristol Bay here). Remaining virtually undeveloped for thousands of years, this wildlife paradise is home to the world’s largest sockeye salmon run, as well as healthy populations of grizzly bears, wolves, moose, caribou and waterfowl.

Large copper mines are notorious for polluting waters while they are in operation, leaving the area toxic long after they are gone. If Pebble mine is built, toxic wastes will inevitably leak into surface and groundwater, causing serious pollution that threatens salmon and other wildlife. Plus, because Pebble mine would be built in one of the most active earthquake zones on earth, there’s a serious risk of the dams breaking and funneling massive amounts of mining pollution directly into the river systems.

Q: The mining industry may have gotten away with polluting our waters 20 to 30 years ago, but don’t they face stiffer penalties now?

A:  Mining practices have improved, but are far from perfect. Unfortunately,  two “loopholes” in the Clean Water Act  have allowed mine developers to circumvent the purpose of this critical law, making it common industry practice over the last 30 years for mines to dam up the nearest river valley and treat wetlands and streams impounded by the dam as a toxic waste dump. According to the EPA, the hard rock mining industry is the single largest source of toxic waste and one of the most destructive industries in the country.

One recent example is the Kensington mine in southeast Alaska, which was recently allowed to completely drain a beautiful alpine lake in the Tongass National Forest and fill it with mining waste–killing all fish and destroying the aquatic habitat.

Q: In these difficult economic times, shouldn’t we be careful about stopping mining projects?

A:  While discharging wastes into wetlands, streams and lakes may be convenient for mining companies, it is not a necessary way of doing business. By stopping mines from dumping their toxic wastes in our lakes, rivers, and wetlands, it’s possible to reduce some of the negative environmental impacts of hard rock mines without prohibiting all hard rock mining.

Controversial projects such as the proposed Pebble mine in Alaska, Montanore mine in Montana, PolyMet mine in northern Minnesota, Mt. Emmons mine in Colorado, Haile mine in South Carolina, and numerous existing mines in the West and Appalachia are relying on the Clean Water Act loopholes to cut costs and justify extensive environmental damage. What’s more, the public is generally on the hook for the clean-up of abandoned mines. It is estimated that there are a half million abandoned mines across the country and that taxpayers will have to pay $32 – $72 billion to clean up the sites.

Q: How can the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) affect development of the Pebble mine?

A: Under the Clean Water Act, the EPA can veto permits if the agency determines the discharge will have “unacceptable adverse impacts on water supplies, shellfish beds and fishery areas, wildlife, or recreational areas.”

Right now, the EPA is taking public comment on their assessment of impacts from large-scale mining on Bristol Bay–which highlights the significant threats from a project like Pebble mine–and they need to hear from you by July 23rd.  If we don’t speak up now, Pebble mine could devastate this wilderness paradise and the rich community of wildlife that calls it home.

Urge the EPA to protect grizzlies from Pebble mine!

Shane Rucker: Wisconsin Natural Resources

Iron mining has long been a fixture of the Great Lakes economy. However, sulfide mining is nothing like iron mining. Sulfide mining is the mining of metals such as copper, lead, nickel, and zinc from sulfide ore bodies. When sulfide ores in tailings or waste rock are exposed to air and water, they oxidize to form sulfuric acid which in turn dissolves heavy metals such arsenic, lead, and mercury. The increased acidity and dissolved metals from mine waste and runoff poison plants, fish, and wildlife.

Mines in the western U.S. have been cited for hundreds of violations of the Clean Water Act and mines that have not caused water quality problems are rare as hens’ teeth.

State Laws Not up to the Task of Protecting the Great Lake’s Water and Communities

Nickel may demand $17,000 a ton, but water is unquestionably the Great Lakes’ most precious resource.  The Great Lakes are the largest surface freshwater system on earth, accounting for about 84% of North America’s surface fresh water.  In an era of increasing global demand for fresh water, the purity of the water in the Great Lakes basin is a matter of global significance.

Unfortunately, weak laws and lax enforcement in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the Canadian province of Ontario leave the Great Lakes vulnerable to the adverse effects of sulfide mining.  A new report prepared by National Wildlife Federation and Ecojustice Canada finds that state and provincial laws, regulations, and resources are grossly insufficient to adequately regulate the onslaught of new sulfide mines.

What’s even more alarming is that no one is looking at the cumulative effects of these mines.  The Great Lakes basin is a single, incredibly important ecosystem, but sulfide mining is being regulated by different political entities with different jurisdictions and inconsistent laws and environmental policies.

The Feds Need to Step Up

Ultimately, we need to strengthen state management of sulfide mining.  In the short term, the federal government needs to fill in the gaps where the states are falling short.  There are two things federal agencies can do right now to help protect the waters and people of the Great Lakes region.

1.  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Army Corps of Engineers should revise the Clean Water Act’s regulations to prohibit sulfide mines from using wetlands, streams, and other waters as dump sites for mining waste, a practice that is currently rampant within the industry.  Regardless of the merits of an individual mine, it is just common sense that untreated mining waste should never be dumped into natural waters.
2. EPA should conduct a scientific analysis of the Great Lakes basin, similar to the agency’s recently-released assessment of large-scale mining in Alaska’s Bristol Bay, to determine how sulfide mines, individually and cumulatively, may affect the water quality, aquatic ecosystems, fish, wildlife, and human inhabitants of the region.

Urge the EPA to protect our nation’s waters and wildlife from toxic mine pollution.

Habitat destruction and toxic mine waste from the proposed Montanore mine put grizzlies at risk. Photo: USFWS

But if the mining company aggressively pursuing the copper and silver here gets its way, these bears could be headed for regional extinction.

The proposed Montanore project–a silver and copper mine located near Libby, Montana–would be one of the largest underground mines of its type in North America, and would change the wildlife, clean water, and wild country here forever.

10 Reasons to Stop Montanore Mine:

1. Up to 27,000 acres of critical grizzly bear habitat would be destroyed–a death sentence for the remaining 20-40 grizzly bears inhabiting the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness.
2. Construction of an unlined tailings reservoir capable of containing 120 million tons of mining waste into perpetuity would require the construction of a dam 360 feet high and 10,300 feet long– consuming over 600 acres of National Forest Land.
3. It will take a predicted 500 years to fill the gigantic mine void with water, and it would take 1,172 years for the base flow of water in the area to reach a “steady state.”
4. An important ancestral cultural area for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes would be destroyed.
5. 13 million gallons of polluted water would be discharged each year into streams, wetlands, and springs.
6. Threatened Canada lynx would experience massive habitat loss and increased mortality.
7. Massive dewatering of lakes and streams due to underground excavation could potentially decimate threatened native bull trout populations.
8. The ore separation process will leave health-threatening amounts of such chemicals as antimony and manganese in the groundwater—known to cause a litany of health issues in humans and animals.
9. Noise and visual impacts from blasting, heavy equipment operation, increased traffic, and helicopter use will not only be significant for wildlife, but also would seriously affect the wilderness experience sought by outdoor enthusiasts.
10. Montanore mine would be located within one mile of the proposed Rock Creek mine, and the cumulative impacts from two mining operations would result in the demise of the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness.

What Can Be Done:

For too long, the mines that produce our gold, silver, copper, and uranium have been using our nation’s most pristine streams, lakes, and groundwater as dumping grounds for their toxic wastes. These are the waters from which we drink, in which our children swim, and which support our fish and wildlife.

In theory, the Clean Water Act should halt this destructive practice. Unfortunately, there are two “loopholes” in the regulations implementing the Clean Water Act that have allowed mine developers to circumvent the purpose of this critical law—making the mining industry the single largest source of toxic waste and one of the most environmentally destructive industries in the country.

The good news for people who care about pure water, community health, and abundant wildlife is that Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers can close the mining loopholes with two simple changes to the Clean Water Act regulations. Closing the loopholes would not prohibit hard rock mining, but it would greatly reduce harmful and long-lasting impacts from large mines like Montanore mine and many others across the country that rely on these loopholes to cut costs and justify extensive environmental damage.

Just last week, the EPA released its watershed assessment of Bristol Bay, Alaska, to understand how future large-scale development may affect water quality and Bristol Bay’s salmon fishery.  This is a pivotal step in protecting this pristine region from the proposed Pebble gold and copper mine, and will hopefully shed some light on mining projects across the nation that threaten to pollute the waters that sustain our communities, fish, and wildlife.

The EPA needs to hear from you that there are some places too special to risk losing forever. The future of the grizzly bears of Montana’s Cabinet Mountains Wilderness–and many more wildlife that need protection from toxic mining pollution–depend on it.

Speak up to protect our nation’s waters and wildlife from the toxic pollution of hard rock mines.

Question: Are there any dangerous mining projects being proposed near you? What are your concerns?

Download the report: Troubled Waters: How Mine Waste Dumping is Poisoning Our Oceans, Rivers and Lakes

Acid mine drainage from the Zortman Landusky mine in Montana. Photo: Earthworks.

Mining companies are dumping more than 180 million tonnes of hazardous mine waste each year into rivers, lakes, and oceans worldwide, threatening vital bodies of water with toxic heavy metals and other chemicals poisonous to humans and wildlife.

For too long, the mines that produce our gold, silver, copper, and uranium have been using our nation’s most pristine streams, lakes, and groundwater as dumping grounds for their toxic wastes. These are the waters from which we drink, in which our children swim, and which support our fish and wildlife.

In theory, the Clean Water Act should halt this destructive practice. Unfortunately, there are two “loopholes” in the regulations implementing the Clean Water Act that have allowed mine developers to circumvent the purpose of this critical law. A key recommendation from the “Troubled Waters” report states:

Two loopholes in the U.S. Clean Water Act, a law that was passed to protect water from industrial pollutants, allow mining companies to dump toxic mine waste untreated into rivers, lakes, streams and wetlands. Governments should close loopholes and create a regulatory environment that puts the health of our water and ecosystems over corporate profits by prohibiting this unnecessary practice.

Grizzlies in Bristol Bay, Alaska and in the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness in Montana are at risk from proposed mining projects. Photo: USFWS.

The good news is, with a simple rule change, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Army Corps of Engineers can close these loopholes and stop Big Mining from using our waters as industrial waste dumps. Closing the loopholes would not prohibit hard rock mining but it would greatly reduce the negative environmental impacts from large mines.

National Wildlife Federation, along with Earthworks and other partners, is working to stop irresponsible mining practices which pollute the waters that sustain our communities, fish, and wildlife.

Urge the EPA and Army Corps to stop Big Mining from using our waters as industrial waste dumps.

Photo by Nic Callero

A few months ago I asked one of the most important questions I have asked to date, which was for my girlfriend Megan’s hand in marriage. Many important decisions were made and internal conversations resolved leading to the one simple question of “will you marry me?”

When should I ask? Where should I ask..?  Should I talk to her father first?…what if she says no?….How the hell do I even know what size ring to get?

Despite this seemingly unending stream of internal dialogue, there was one question I did know the answer to. The ring I purchased had to be special, and it had to be special in two ways. First, Megan had to love it plain and simple. Second, the ring had to be from a Jeweler that has pledged their opposition to Bristol Bay’s proposed Pebble mine.

Photo by Nic Callero

As lifelong Oregonians, avid backcountry campers and myself a bona fide salmon fishing addict, untouched places like Bristol Bay have a very special place in both of our hearts. Oregon has very few of these unspoiled treasures left, Alaska has many and Bristol Bay may be the crown jewel. I have had the pleasure of traveling to Alaska many times fishing throughout the state and exploring some of these untouched wonders. I have spoken with Alaskans and Oregonians whose jobs and livelihoods depend on the health of the Bristol Bay fishery, many of them are my friends. This is why supporting a jeweler who recognizes that Pebble mine is the wrong mine in the wrong place was so important- for both of us.

Photographer Michael Melford captures the essence of Bristol Bay

Over the past few years, dozens of jewelry companies have pledged to boycott any gold sourced from the pending Pebble mine. The pledge recognizes that Alaska’s Bristol Bay Watershed is an ecosystem of national and international significance, supporting the world’s largest wild salmon fishery. The Pledge also points out the Pebble Mine proposal would jeopardize the salmon fishery and the businesses and native communities it supports.  It is very hard to argue this point as Pebble mine would:

• Be the largest open pit mine in North America, up to two miles wide destroying over 60 miles of prime salmon spawning habitat.
• Require massive earthen dams 700 feet tall to contain 10 billion tons of toxic mine waste.
• Be located in an unstable seismic zone prone to frequent earthquakes.
• Require nearly 35 billion gallons of water a year, critically reducing flow to multiple salmon rivers.

The Jeweler I decided on was a local Ben Bridge store here in Portland, Oregon. When I purchased the ring I made a point to tell every single employee in the store that their opposition to the Pebble mine was the reason they were getting my business, I was even able to leave a note for the owner. A small but symbolic step to spread the word about the threat Pebble mine poses to Bristol Bay, one of the planet’s remaining untouched wonders.

Oh, and most important my now fiancé Megan said Yes. My next tough question will be trying to convince her to take our honeymoon to Bristol Bay’s Nushagak River to fish for salmon.

Urge federal agencies to protect the wildlife of Bristol Bay against toxic mining. You can also “like” Stop Mining Pollution on Facebook and follow @NWFSalmon on Twitter for important updates.

Photo by Earthworks

Prior to this 2010 report, the national trend of toxic releases had been dropping significantly.  However, in 2010 Alaska’s toxic releases increased twenty percent, producing a total of 835-million pounds of toxic material being discharged in local air, water and land. 92.3 % of this total comes from metal mining. This fact joins the long list of reasons why the proposed Pebble Mine is the wrong mine in the wrong place.

For some perspective: Pebble Mine is estimated to dump 10 billion tons of hard rock mining waste at the headwaters of the greatest wild salmon fishery in the world. That’s twelve times more toxic waste than all toxic material released in Alaskan air, land and water the entirety of 2010. This is why the majority of Bristol Bay Natives oppose Pebble Mine. It is why commercial fishers, sport fishers and even seafood processors oppose Pebble Mine.

Aerial view of pristine Bristol Bay (Photo by William Bowen)

Take action now and help stop the Pebble Mine. For Pebble Mine campaign updates check out our Facebook page “Stop Mining Pollution” and follow us on Twitter @NWFSalmon.

The Pebble Mine threatens the entire ecosystem of the Sockeye Salmon

Gold, copper and molybdenum are lying in the ground beneath Bristol Bay. Foreign mining companies want to develop the largest open mine pit in North America right here in order to extract these materials. Mineral deposits, however, are not the only thing that will escape from a giant hole in the ground should Pebble Mine be developed near the bay.

Hard rock mining in Bristol Bay could potentially release billions of tons of toxic mine waste into the environment. This poisonous mining byproduct will be located in earthen dams in areas well known for earthquakes. Additionally, construction of a 100 mile road and a fossil fuel power plant for the proposed Pebble Mine will lead to habitat destruction and an additional source of pollution that could poison clean water in Bristol Bay wildlife and people depend on. Toxic chemicals like cyanide and sulfuric acid are used in massive mining operations, and they are just some of the dangerous substances that can kill wildlife, seep into ground water and pose serious health threats.

Big mining companies are not always very good about cleaning up their messes. The public has to pay billions to deal with the pollution and clean-up while foreign companies take the lion’s share of the profits. Shockingly, the hard rock mining industry doesn’t have to pay royalties for minerals taken from our public lands.

Alaska residents are caught between a sockeye and a hard rock mining. Major loopholes in the Clean Water Act protect polluter interests and not wildlife or the public interest. These legal gaps allow mining companies to avoid properly treating and disposing of toxic waste by dumping the noxious mess directly into lakes, streams and other waters.

Bristol Bay is a natural resource worth more than gold, even if some gold mining companies may not appreciate the value of Alaska’s outdoor heritage.

Urge the Environmental Protection Agency to protect the wildlife of Bristol Bay against toxic mining. You can also follow @NWFAlaska and @NWFSalmon on Twitter for important updates on this important conservation issue.