Government Energy Policy, Business and Technology

The EPA made a surprise move that could protect the world's largest salmon fishery

CNN: The EPA proposed last year to "reverse clean water safeguards" for the Bristol Bay watershed, paving the way for a massive gold and copper mine to be built in the region. The Bristol Bay watershed is one of the most pristine ecosystems in the world, supplying about half of the world's sockeye salmon. "I found out from your story that they actually had an agreement," Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington state told CNN's Anderson Cooper. "Doing a sweetheart deal for a mining executive, five minutes after he leaves your office, is not the due process that taxpayers want." Alaska governor Bill Walker had also spoken to Pruitt about his opposition to the mine several times over the past year. "I have shared with him my belief that in the Bristol Bay region we should prioritize the resource that has sustained generations and must continue to do so in perpetuity," Walker said in a news release. In his state of the state address, Walker noted that the Bristol Bay fishery celebrated the harvest of its two billionth salmon last year. In the EPA's latest decision, released late Friday, Pruitt wrote, "it is my judgment at this time that any mining projects in the region likely pose a risk to the abundant natural resources that exist there.

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