The EPA has just popped the long waited EPA assessment report(s) on Bristol Bay.
From the press release…
(Seattle – Jan. 15, 2014) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today released its final Bristol Bay Assessment describing potential impacts to salmon and ecological resources from proposed large-scale copper and gold mining in Bristol Bay, Alaska. The report, titled “An Assessment of Potential Mining Impacts on Salmon Ecosystems of Bristol Bay, Alaska,” concludes that large-scale mining in the Bristol Bay watershed poses risks to salmon and Alaska Native cultures. Bristol Bay supports the largest sockeye salmon fishery in the world, producing nearly 50 percent of the world’s wild sockeye salmon with runs averaging 37.5 million fish each year.
“Over three years, EPA compiled the best, most current science on the Bristol Bay watershed to understand how large-scale mining could impact salmon and water in this unique area of unparalleled natural resources,” said Dennis McLerran, Regional Administrator for EPA Region 10. “Our report concludes that large-scale mining poses risks to salmon and the tribal communities that have depended on them for thousands of years. The assessment is a technical resource for governments, tribes and the public as we consider how to address the challenges of large-scale mining and ecological protection in the Bristol Bay watershed.”
You can download and read the Three Volume, 1371 page report yourself from this page, or for the more sane and time challenged among us, here’s the 36 page Executive Summary.
The ‘devil is in the details’ caveat aside (from one who has only zipped through the ES so far), it would appear even less likely that you’re going to become a millionaire in the next decade by investing in Alaskan mining stocks.
It ain’t over yet…
