Pebble Mine is back in the news. But there’s something they’re keeping very quiet: The Army Corps of Engineers has decided that the Environmental Impact Statement for the mine will not include the possible disaster of a tailings dam failure and a flood of toxic water.
On May 17, Pebble ran a full-page ad saying: “Impacts to returning salmon are not expected to be measurable in the Bristol Bay Watershed, (according to) the Preliminary Environmental Impact Study,” and “The permitting process is WORKING."
“Working” for whom? The foreign company that would run the mine. Not for most Bristol Bay residents, nor for the world-class commercial and sports and fisheries there.
A dam failure is unlikely — but very possible. Such dams must hold back extremely toxic water and mining wastes forever. The poisonous flash flood from a broken dam would destroy salmon, other wildlife, the whole region’s economy and possibly human lives. They say it can’t happen, but it’s happened recently in British Columbia, Brazil and elsewhere. Arizonans are fighting a similar EIS omission right now.
Analysis of a possible dam failure was in the draft EIS, but now the Army Corps of Engineers says that section is not required. This is technically true — but they can and should include it in the final document. Alaskans must insist on a real EIS that informs us of our risks from the mine.
Vivian Mendenhall
Anchorage
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