EPA head met with a mining CEO, then pushed forward a controversial mining project

From CNN today : http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/22/politics/pebble-epa-bristol-bay-invs/index.html

This is what we are up against with the current “EPA” in Washington. Scott Pruitt the darling of the extraction industry has made his position perfectly clear on what he believes the Environmental PROTECTION Agency should be doing.

From the article:

"Within hours of meeting with a mining company CEO, the new head of the US Environmental Protection Agency directed his staff to withdraw a plan to protect the watershed of Bristol Bay, Alaska, one of the most valuable wild salmon fisheries on Earth, according to interviews and government emails obtained by CNN."

"The meeting between EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and Tom Collier, CEO of Pebble Limited Partnership, took place on May 1, Collier and his staff confirmed in an interview with CNN. At 10:36 a.m. that same day, the EPA's acting general counsel, Kevin Minoli, sent an email to agency staff saying the administrator had "directed" the agency to withdraw an Obama-era proposal to protect the ecologically valuable wetland in southwest Alaska from certain mining activities."

"In 2014, after three years of peer-reviewed study, the Obama administration's EPA invoked a rarely used provision of the Clean Water Act to try to protect Bristol Bay after finding that a mine "would result in complete loss of fish habitat due to elimination, dewatering, and fragmentation of streams, wetlands, and other aquatic resources" in some areas of the bay."

"All of these losses would be irreversible," the agency (Obama EPA administration) said."

There is no economic reason to put a Copper Mine in this sensitive area. Currently the price of copper is in the toilet, at half the price it was in 2011.

This is about putting dollars in the pocket of Pebble Limited Partnership. Pebble is in fact a front for Northern Dynasty Miners a CANADIAN company. NDM is in the toilet also, having gone from $22 per share to $1.50 a share.

Here are the facts on Pebble from Kerrisdale Capital Management: “Northern Dynasty's key asset, the low-grade Pebble deposit, is not commercially viable: mining it would require so much upfront investment that it would actually destroy value.”

“Kerrisdale believes Northern Dynasty's former partners concluded that the Pebble project had a negative present value – an assessment that Northern Dynasty has spent years trying to conceal from the public.”

This kind of stuff is now the normal with the current administration. Everyone who is an advocate of Public Lands, needs to recognize that these Swap Creatures are NOT benevolent, they are not interested in our needs as sportspersons. They are about greed and earnings per share.

Don’t carry water for these guys; they will throw it in your face. Don’t give them an inch; they will take a hundred miles.

We need foot soldiers to make those calls to Congress 202-224-3121.

Cheers,

Mark

Ye shall be free to roam.

Note: Please no posts about the evil left wing media. No one is stopping you from referencing all those Public Lands stories from the other side……….Oh, there are none.

I don't know anything about this mine, but could you elaborate about how there is no economic reason for it, yet it is going to put so much money in the company's pocket? Aren't those contradictory statements?

There is a lot of misinformation on both sides of this issue. Pebble has a lot more challenges than just permitting.

This mine would not result in a devastation of the salmon, it's a tiny, tiny part of the overall salmon rearing watershed of Bristol Bay. As I recall it's about 25% of all the salmon are in the same watershed. Still a lot, but not total devastation should there be a problem with the mine.

Salmon prices are also in the toilet.

Does the state of Alaska have an agency that enforces environmental regulations?

JWP58 said:

Does the state of Alaska have an agency that enforces environmental regulations?

Click to expand...

Is this a serious question?

Both state and federal agencies would oversee permitting and construction. The issue here, is the EPA used a convoluted end around deal (first time using it) to give the environmentalists what they wanted, by circumventing established permitting requirements.

Think about that for a moment... we have established rules for development, not just mining but everything, and we have an agency that wants to be in total control.

The mine foot print would impact something like 0.1% of the salmon rearing habitat in the watershed. The roads, culverts, and airports in the same watershed impact far, far more, and are also permanent. Where is the EPA? What about all fuel that is spilled into Bristol Bay from the gobs of fishing boats? The list can go on and on... bit this mine will mean the end of salmon... what aboit My Illiamna erupting? That would be the end as well.

We have the best environmental regulations in the world. Alaska has some of the most stringent environmental programs in the US. Ever hear of Prudo Bay? Virtually all of the field is on State land. Its not some contaminated wasteland... Alaska doesn't need the EPA anymore than any other state. And we certainly don't need them making their own rules. YMMV.

As I said Pebble has more issues than permitting. They need a viable economic plan. Construction of a project of this magnitude in BFE will cost billions in capital, and cost billions to operate. Just getting power and access to the site will be a monumental engineering task.

Pebble will have to go through a mountain of permits, and there is still a chance they will be denied, bit at least give them the opportunity to be denied, and a reason that doesn't comply with current laws and regulations. Or let it flop economically. That is the whole reason they fought back on this.

I just figured if it was such an environmental hazard, and the state has it's own environment dept., they wouldn't allow it to go through.

Calm down.

Or be like all the other lib/commies here and lose your fing mind because of a question. Nothing more, nothing less....a question.

One cannot simply ask a straight forward question on this site anymore without the "is this a serious question, how dare you" b.s