Daily Sitka Sentinel

EPA Reopens Pebble Mine Permit Review

By Sentinel Staff
    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 10 office in Seattle said it has opened the 90-day public comment period on its proposal to withdraw its July 2014 Clean Water Act Proposed Determination that would, if finalized, have imposed restrictions on the discharge of dredged or fill material associated with the potential Pebble Mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay watershed.
    Withdrawal of the 2014 proposed determination would reopen the EPA’s consideration of a waste discharge permit for the Pebble Mine. On May 11 the administration of President Trump announced an agreement with Pebble Limited Partnership, in which Pebble would drop its lawsuits against the government in return for additional time to apply for a Clean Water Act 404 permit.
    The 2014 proposed determination on the Pebble Mine discharge permit was based on its finding that mining in the headwaters of the river systems of Bristol Bay would damage the bay’s valuable fisheries. It followed a multiple-year process in which the EPA concluded that
    – The Bristol Bay watershed supports the largest sockeye salmon run in the world, producing approximately 46% of the world’s wild sockeye harvest.
    – In 2009, Bristol Bay’s wild salmon ecosystem generated $480 million in direct annual economic expenditures in the region and sales per year and employed over 14,000 full and part-time workers.
    – All five species of Pacific salmon - sockeye, Chinook, coho, chum and pink - spawn and rear in the Bristol Bay watershed. In addition, the Nushagak River supports one of the world’s largest Chinook salmon runs.
    – The Bristol Bay watershed supports large carnivores such as brown bears, bald eagles, and wolves that depend on salmon; ungulates such as moose and caribou; and numerous waterfowl species.

    In its Monday announcement of its proposal to withdraw  the proposed determination, the EPA Region 10 office said it is consulting with federally-recognized tribal governments of the Bristol Bay region and with Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act Regional and Village Corporations with lands in the Bristol Bay watershed.
    After the close of the 90-day public comment and tribal consultation process, the EPA will decide whether to issue a final withdrawal of the 2014 Proposed Determination.
    EPA said it also is requesting public comment on whether the EPA administrator “should review and reconsider a final withdrawal decision, if such a decision is made.”
    Comments may be emailed to:  ow-docket@epa.gov with docket number EPA-R10-OW-2017-0369 in the email subject line. For more information visit: https://www.epa.gov/bristolbay
    Acting Region 10 EPA Administrator Michelle Pirzadeh submitted the pre-publication Federal Register notice on Monday. The document, accessible at the EPA website, was accompanied by a notice that it might be changed before publication. No information was given for the date that it will appear in the federal register.