Photo: Lori Andresen

Not surprisingly, the Clean Water Act loopholes have harmed communities and wildlife that depend on the waters poisoned by mining pollution.  Last month, National Wildlife Federation (NWF) released a new report, Honoring the River: How Hardrock Mining Impacts Tribal Communities, which describes the particularly negative effects of mining pollution on the nation’s tribal communities.

What is surprising is how little attention has been paid to this issue.  According to EPA, mining is the number one source of toxic pollution in this country.  In Representative Grijalva’s home state of Arizona, there are more than 24,000 abandoned mine sites.  This is a huge problem that can be readily addressed with simple changes to agency regulations—yet the Administration has done nothing.

The truth is that mines are generally located in remote places and the communities most affected by them are often small, with little political and economic clout.  The dangerous waste disposal practices that are authorized by the Clean Water Act loopholes would never be tolerated if mines were located near Chicago or Boston. Unfortunately, “out of sight, out of mind.”

This is why NWF is so pleased to see a letter from members of Congress drawing attention to the two Clean Water Act loopholes.  As Representative Holt said in a press release,

“Too often mining companies are given sweetheart deals at the expense of local communities and the environment.  The Clean Water Act loopholes addressed in this letter can and should be fixed administratively.  Expedited action will help to ensure that low-income and native communities are protected from unsafe drinking water that has been tainted by toxic mining waste.”

Thank you Representatives Grijalva, Holt, Hanabusa, Conyers, Edwards, Hastings, Honda, Huffman, Lee, Pocan, Polis,  Schakowsky, Slaughter, and Tonko.

Tweet it! Thanks @RepRaulGrijalva for speaking up to protect our waters from toxic mine waste: bit.ly/198lC1A @EPAgov @WhiteHouseCEQ @USACE_HQ

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

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.

Do you know how to properly fit a life vest?

We hope that you get outside and run and play this weekend, and if you are riding your bike or boating that you wear a properly fitted helmet or life jacket. The US Coast Guard has a lot of information on safety rules and how to select the correct life jacket, and here in Seattle there are a lot of resources available for bicycle safety.

Bob Rees, Northwest Guides & Anglers Association

But the tides are turning.

Yet another energy company, Kinder Morgan, has just today pulled the plug on their plans to use  the Northwest to export Powder River Basin coal on the world market.

This fight, however, is far from over. Of the roughly 150 millions tons of coal proposed to be shipped through the waters of the Northwest, over 80% is still on track for being permitted.

“We won’t rest until all the coal companies quit polluting the waters that our fisheries depend on. Our community depends on salmon jobs and our families depend on healthy seafood. We’re fighting for survival, globally and locally.”
-Bob Rees, President of the Northwest Guides & Anglers Association

Join the fight to protect Northwest fish and wildlife from dangerous coal export proposals.

Michael O’Leary of Portland, Oregon is an Outreach Consultant for National Wildlife Federation working on coal export and renewable energy issues in the Pacific Northwest, where he’s been a political organizer for over 15 years. Michael is a certified cycling instructor and a certifiable bike enthusiast, and can often be found on two wheels, rain or shine.

Resource managers and conservation practitioners work to preserve, protect, and understand the lands, waters, and wildlife of our country. What do these professionals need in order to address the challenges posed by climate change in their work? We spent a year asking 195 natural and cultural resource managers, conservation practitioners, and researchers this question.

These professionals work along the west coast of North America in the North Pacific Landscape Conservation Cooperative (NPLCC) region. This is a dynamic and beautiful place filled with dense evergreen forests, spectacular coastlines, some of America’s longest rivers, and such iconic species as salmon, orca, and grizzly bear. While their toolbox is full of strategies and actions applied over the decades, they requested more support to address the particular challenges presented by climate change.

Decision-support systems and tools

By gathering the most relevant documents, data, and other resources in one place, decision-support systems and tools enable managers and decision makers to make more informed decisions. For the managers, conservation practitioners, and researchers we engaged, decision-support systems and tools were the most requested type of support. These systems and tools may include:

• Maps showing where a particular type of habitat is located
• Climate change vulnerability assessments for a specific forest, beach or other location
• Computer- or web-based tools that visualize climate change impacts, alternative ways to respond to impacts, and the pros and cons of choosing one alternative over another

Collaboration and other capacity-building activities

The NPLCC region traverses the Pacific coastline from southern Alaska to northwest California. It crosses state and national boundaries and encompasses federal, tribal, state, and non-governmental jurisdictions. As such, the professionals we engaged emphasized the need to pursue projects and plans that meet the objectives of multiple partners working to address climate change effects on diverse ecosystems. They also emphasized the need to work together to maintain or improve the health and status of the region’s ecosystems over time; in other words, to build or maintain landscape resilience over time. Requested capacity-building activities include:

Bald eagles are found in much of the NPLCC region. Credit: Robert Palmer

• Guidance such as “Best Management Practices” manuals that outline how to incorporate climate change considerations into planning efforts. Or, assessments of the pros and cons of applying new or controversial research to make management decisions.
• Case studies of progress or success in climate change adaptation
• Development of synthesis products, such as an assessment of when, where and under what conditions to use tools for climate change analyses and/or planning. Or, a web-based “climate clearinghouse” that compiles contact information, scientific literature on climate change, and/or an inventory of existing research.
• Facilitation of collaboration among people, projects, institutions, and funding sources

New or different science, data and information

Some data gaps and information needs identified by the managers, conservation practitioners, and researchers we engaged are shared throughout the NPLCC region, while others are particular to a specific location or ecosystem.

The beauty and complexity of the region is breathtaking. This is just the type of system scientists would like to model. Credit: Patricia Tillmann

• Hydrologic data (i.e., water data) in Alaska and British Columbia such as data on how much water flows in a stream per year, per season, per month, or per day.
• Regional and local models of ocean conditions. These may include water temperature, patterns of ocean currents, the level of nutrients in the water, and other conditions.
• Scenarios of climate and socioeconomic conditions, developed in collaboration with decision makers and stakeholders. Scenarios are different but equally possible “visions of the future.” They provide specific descriptions of what the future will look like based on hypothetical (or in some cases, real) decisions made today.

Science communication and outreach

The professionals we engaged identified three audiences for targeted communication and outreach: resource managers, conservation practitioners, and researchers; the public and educators; and, decision makers. They also emphasized that promoting effective science communication and outreach will require targeted messaging and a user-to-consumer approach. Examples of requested communication and outreach needs and activities include:

• Use of visualization tools to communicate climate change effects and examine potentially vulnerable areas
• Making the connection between social, economic, and ecological impacts, especially when communicating with decision makers and the public

Learn more and support our work to build capacity to address climate change

Download the full report: Advancing Landscape-Scale Conservation: An Assessment of Climate Change-Related Challenges, Needs, and Opportunities for the NPLCC (pdf)

Learn more about our work to build capacity to address climate change

Take action in the Pacific Region

Return to our page on May 15th to donate to National Wildlife Federation through GiveBIG!

Here are three reasons why we hope you will choose to support us through GiveBIG on May 15^th:

Photo: USFWS

* Exciting Great American Backyard Campout events this summer, including events serving people with limited resources and veterans.

* Our work with the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission to increase public awareness and support of our state park system, which is being impacted by severe budget shortfalls that are leaving wildlife in jeopardy and impairing our ability to enjoy the outdoors.

* Outreach to new communities and training programs for volunteers through our Certified Wildlife Habitat® program, which helps maintain and build biodiversity in the Pacific Northwest.

2. The more you give, the more National Wildlife Federation receives! All donations made through The Seattle Foundation’s website on May 15^th will receive a percentage of the matching funds (or “stretch”) pool from GiveBIG sponsors.

3. You could be randomly selected for a “Golden Ticket” that gives NWF an extra $1,000 from The Seattle Foundation and other sponsors. You’ll also be eligible to win airline tickets, gift cards, and more!

Stay tuned for details and like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for GiveBIG reminders and updates!

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.

Floodplain development is contributing to the demise of Puget Sound orcas. Photo: Minette Layne/WikiMedia Commons

The Costs of Flooding

Since 1990, Puget Sound has been ravaged by 15 major flood disasters—that’s more than one every other year. As outlined in our new report, Changing Course: Why Protecting Floodplains is Good for People and Wildlife, thousands of homes have been damaged or destroyed and at least 58 people have died due to flooding. These floods cost taxpayers more than $1.37 billion in clean up and recovery costs.

Humans are not the only ones affected by floodplain development. Since 1900, Puget Sound Chinook salmon populations have declined 93% and nine runs of Chinook have gone extinct. Orca whales, which eat primarily salmon, have declined by half. Both are now under federal protection through the Endangered Species Act, but habitat and populations continue to decline.

Developing in Floodplains

Tolt River Road near Carnation, WA inundated by floodwaters. Photo: King County.

By filling floodplains and leveeing rivers, we’ve diminished the ability of the land to absorb large storms. More than 90% of our floodplains and wetlands have been lost to development, agriculture and other human activities. Of the floodplains that remain, more than 70% are in poor condition. The result is an increase in devastating flood damage, degradation of Puget Sound, and steep declines in fish and wildlife populations.

Solutions for Our Floodplains

As scientists consider how to address salmon declines and larger storms, they are coming to the conclusion that protecting and restoring floodplains is one of the most important things we can do to help salmon and orca while reducing risk for people.

The first step is to prevent more harmful development in flood-prone areas. In other words, we must stop making the problem worse. The second step is to fix our past mistakes by repairing already damaged floodplains. We can do this by buying out frequently flooded properties, setting back or removing levees to widen the river and floodplain, and restoring floodplains to recreate critical ecological functions.

So, is putting Puget Sound’s next million people in floodplains a good idea? So far, building in floodplains has been bad for people, bad for taxpayers, and bad for fish and wildlife. The question should not be, where are we going to put the next million people. The question should be, where are we going to put them, safely?

Finding a safe home for Puget Sound’s next million people will mean building smarter. Restoring and protecting our floodplains will mean that Puget Sound’s next generation will not just be safer from floods; they will also still be able to see salmon and orca leaping from our waters.

For more information, be sure to read our report: Changing Course: Why Protecting Floodplains is Good for People and Wildlife, and watch our video here.

Fishing for Chinook Salmon at sunrise on the mouth of the Columbia River, August 23rd, 2012

More coal burning means more mercury pollution, more acidification, more climate change, and more habitat loss.

With plummeting domestic coal consumption leaving coal companies desperate to find new pathways to new markets, the last investors in the dirtiest fossil fuel have now targeted the Pacific Northwest to be the nation’s largest gateway for coal exports.

Just two weeks ago Bob Rees, President of the Northwest Guides and Anglers Association, traveled from his home on Tillamook Bay to Oregon’s capitol to tell Governor Kitzhaber to take action and prevent the waterways of the Pacific Northwest from becoming a new pipeline for coal pollution.

Watch the video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Now in their remarkable joint letter of appeal to the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality, Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee have called for the “strongest possible terms” of review of air quality and habitat impacts at risk from proposed coal exports.

“We believe the decisions to continue and expand coal leasing from federal lands and authorize the export of that coal are likely to lead to long-term investments in coal generation in Asia, with air quality and climate impacts in the United States that dwarf those of almost any other action the federal government could take in the foreseeable future.”

-Gov. Kitzhaber and Gov. Inslee

Read the full text of their letter here.

What About the States?

Federal regulators aren’t the only decision makers involved, however.

State agencies in Washington and Oregon both have their own coal export project permit processes, and so far neither Gov. Kitzhaber nor Gov. Inslee have instructed their staff to block the proposed developments, though there’s been no rush to permit them, either.

Just this month Oregon’s Department of State Lands negotiated yet another multi-month delay for the Port of Morrow coal export proposal so that developers could have more time to respond to the additional questions recently raised.

What happens next?

If federal agencies like the Army Corps of Engineers decide to take a thorough look at the issues raised by Gov. Kitzhaber and Gov. Inslee, and if concerned National Wildlife Federation supporters continue to keep up the pressure, we’re hopeful we can keep the northwest coal-export-free.

But there’s no guarantee of that yet.

Keep up the fight to protect Northwest fish and wildlife from dangerous coal export proposals.

Michael O’Leary of Portland, Oregon is an Outreach Consultant for National Wildlife Federation working on coal export and renewable energy issues in the Pacific Northwest, where he’s been a political organizer for over 15 years. Michael is a certified cycling instructor and a certifiable bike enthusiast, and can often be found on two wheels, rain or shine.

The decision came after Ambre Energy initially refused to provide key information requested by Oregon’s Department of State Lands (DSL), including the project’s impacts to fish and wildlife. Knowing that DSL would likely deny the permit without this information, Ambre was forced to ask for an extension—pushing back the final decision on the permit by five months.

Dangers to Local Fish and Wildlife

Orcas like this one are at risk from toxic coal pollution. Source: Minette Layne/WikiMedia Commons

In addition to the impacts from toxic pollution to endangered orcas and other imperiled Northwest species, once the coal is exported overseas and burned, it would drive climate change, ocean acidification, mercury deposition, and other crises that affect species like salmon and steelhead, upon which orcas depend.

If approved, the Morrow Pacific project would be the first of five proposed coal export facilities in Oregon and Washington to get a green light. If all of them are built, over 150 million tons or more of coal would be moved by rail, barge, and tanker every year through those states—making it one of the world’s largest coal export regions.

Coal Exports Meet Rising Opposition

Public Opposition to Coal Exports, Seattle. NWF Photo by Michael O’Leary.

Tens of thousands of public comments, packed public hearings, and letters to the editor in local newspapers have turned up the pressure on decision makers by exposing the dangers of coal to the environment and communities. The Morrow Pacific delay is the second since the permit was filed just over a year ago, and just last week, two of the three investors of another proposed coal export terminal at Coos Bay, Oregon announced they are backing out.

Take Action for Northwest Wildlife!

Governor Kitzhaber and his Department of State Lands now have until September 1^st to approve or deny the Morrow Pacific permit. While the governor has recently called on federal officials to do a sweeping review of proposed ports, he’s also coming under heavy pressure from the coal industry. Before a final decision is made, it’s critical that Governor Kitzhaber knows his constituents support him in standing strong against coal export from Oregon’s shores.

There are countless reasons why we must stop coal exports: to sustain the diverse habitats and wildlife of our region, to keep our waters and air clean, to fight climate change—just to name a few.

TAKE ACTION! In the comment box below, tell us why stopping Northwest coal export projects matters to YOU, and we’ll share your messages with the Governor!