By The Seattle Times editorial board
Construction of the Pebble Mine, a huge gold and copper mine, was officially rejected.
The mining would have destroyed the vast natural area in Bristol Bay, Alaska, and displaced indigenous people.
Where whales sing, seals and walruses live and there are extensive wetlands, a huge mine would have irreparably destroyed the region. Bristol Bay is also known for its extraordinary stocks of salmon, which are the livelihoods of the native Eskimos, but also for food from orcas to thousands of brown bears.
Huge mines would destroy the last of the salmon populations, like in Bristol Bay, forever.
After the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ decision last week to reject a key permit for Alaska’s proposed Pebble Mine, it’s clear that federal protection is now needed to permanently preserve this uniquely valuable resource.
The project threatened too much destruction to the immense salmon runs…
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