U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), environmentalists and a Blaine Harbor fisherman celebrated the announcement of mining protections placed January 31 on Alaska’s Bristol Bay, which has one of the largest salmon runs in the world.
The U.S. EPA approved permanent Clean Water Act protections on Bristol Bay, blocking Pebble Mine’s 12-year-long project proposal brought by Northern Dynasty Minerals. Pebble Mine threatened irreparable damage to the watershed, as it would have extracted gold, copper and molybdenum located in the headwaters of the Kvichak and Nushagak rivers, two of the eight major rivers that feed Bristol Bay.
