Ellen Montgomery
Director, Public Lands Campaign, Environment America
Statement: Army Corps of Engineers rightly denies permit for proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska under Clean Water Act guidelines
Media Contacts
Ellen Montgomery
Director, Public Lands Campaign, Environment America
Proposed mine would have destroyed more than 2,800 acres of wetlands
Environment America
WASHINGTON — Citing non compliance Clean Air Act guidelines,the Army Corps of Engineers has denied a permit for a proposed gold and copper mine in the Bristol Bay region of Alaska. The prospective mine has been the subject of controversy for years and has been opposed by commercial and recreational fishermen as well as local businesses and environmentalists. If allowed to go forward, the project would have irreversibly damaged wetlands and streams, disrupting a fragile ecosystem.
Environment America Public Lands Campaign Director Ellen Montgomery issued the following statement:
“This is not only a victory for wildlife, but it also shows the importance and impact of the Clean Water Act. This process worked exactly the way it’s supposed to and the result is that thousands of acres of wetlands and streams will be protected instead of destroyed.
“For generations, Bristol Bay has been home to the largest salmon run in the world, and people depend on that salmon for food. The damage done by building and operating a mine covering 13 miles that would have included a power plant, gas pipelines, and roads would have been disastrous. The Army Corps of Engineers made the right decision because, as Sen. Lisa Murkowski put it: this was the ‘wrong mine in the wrong place.’”
