Whether we like it or not, mining and fishing are connected over and over again in Alaska. Between the proposed Pebble mine in Bristol Bay and the new mines coming online in British Columbia in watersheds that feed into Southeast Alaska streams and waters, it’s hard to address one issue without the other.

While we agree with Alaska Miners Association Executive Director Deantha Crockett when she makes comments headlined, “Mining and fisheries industries have reason to make common cause,” such friendly overtures seem rather hollow coming from an organization whose goal is to further the mining industry and which continually argues for making mining in Alaska easier (with less regulatory burden) than it is today.

AMA has repeatedly railed against the Environmental Protection Agency’s use of legal authority to ensure Bristol Bay fisheries are protected adequately. Just last week the organization hammered the Alaska Department of Natural Resources in an appeal of the state's recent decision to award a single in-stream flow reservation to a group of private citizens — including fishermen — instead of PacRim Coal.

Read the full story at Alaska Dispatch News >>

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