watershed – Fishermens News

A final determination on plans for a proposed mine adjacent to the Bristol Bay watershed in Southwest Alaska released Jan. 31 by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) favors protections for the huge run of wild sockeye salmon and a multi-million-dollar fisheries economy. The EPA said its determination would protect waters important to sustaining the area’s salmon resources from disposal of dredged or fill materials associated with developing the copper, gold and molybdenum Pebble deposit that a Canadian mining firm wants to develop. The battle between development to extract these minerals from the deposit abutting the Bristol Bay watershed has been ongoing for two decades. EPA Administrator Michael Regan said the Bristol Bay watershed is a vital economic driver providing jobs, sus...

Efforts to halt acid drainage from an abandoned British Columbia mine flowing into the salmon-rich Taku River watershed in Southeast Alaska has come a step closer to resolution, with the future of the Tulsequah Chief Mine now in the hands of the provincial government. The BC government is currently in its third season of preliminary work at the site upstream of Southeast Alaska and has committed to its environmental cleanup, but efforts were slowed because the Tulsequah Chief’s bankrupt owner, Chieftain Metals, was searching for a new owner for the copper, zinc and lead mine, which ceased operations in 1957. In mid-August, a court-mandated deadline for that to happen ended for West Face Capital, the creditor that had hoped to find a buyer for the mine. The conclusion of the re...

Tag: watershed

EPA Final Determination Protects Bristol Bay Salmon Fisheries

Acid Drainage from Abandoned BC Mine Steps Closer to Cleanup