Tag Archives: Bristol Bay

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Great News for Alaska’s Bristol Bay —


September 2013 Take ActionDonate
The Big Story
Anglo American Quits the Proposed Pebble Mine
In a surprise decision that brought new hope to Alaska’s Bristol Bay, British mining giant Anglo American — the lead company behind the Pebble Mine — announced that it is abandoning the project. The announcement dealt a heavy blow to the proposed gold and copper operation, which would produce some 10 billion tons of contaminated waste and threaten the greatest wild salmon runs on the planet. NRDC Members helped make this victory possible by deluging Anglo American with nearly one million messages of protest. The fight is not over yet — we’ll need new funding to ratchet up the pressure on the remaining companies behind the mine and win EPA action to protect Bristol Bay from large-scale mining.

Pebble Mine
Campaign Updates
Navy Refuses to Protect Marine Mammals from Deadly Sonar
The U.S. Navy says it will ignore a unanimous recommendation by the California Coastal Commission to reduce the harmful effects of naval sonar on the state’s marine mammals, which would violate California law. The Navy is planning to dramatically increase its use of dangerous sonar and high-powered explosives off the coast of Southern California during training and testing. It predicts that such operations will kill hundreds of marine mammals — and injure thousands of others — over the next five years. New research shows that the Navy’s California training is already putting entire whale populations at risk, including endangered blue whales, the largest animal on Earth.
Marine Mammals
Ad of the Month
Ad of the Month
Nobel Laureates Denounce Keystone XL
NRDC and our partners ran a full-page ad in The Washington Post that featured a letter from ten Nobel Peace Prize winners, calling on President Obama to reject the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline and lead the way beyond dirty oil.
Nobel Laureates Ad
See the Ad
In the News
U.S. Blocks Import
of Wild-Caught Belugas
The National Marine Fisheries Service has denied a permit — opposed by NRDC — that would have allowed the Georgia Aquarium to import 18 wild-caught belugas from Russia for public display purposes at aquaria around the country. We applaud the decision since Russia’s wild beluga population is still recovering after being hunted nearly to extinction in the 1960s. Read more. Beluga
CA County Cracks Down
on Fracking
In July, NRDC’s Community Fracking Defense Campaign scored a big victory when California’s San Benito County approved an ordinance imposing new safeguards on this dangerous form of oil and gas extraction, including a greater setback from homes and disclosure of the chemicals used during drilling or fracking. Read more. Fracking
Black History

the Senate ~~ CONGRESS on break until 7/8/2013 ~~ the House


WethePeople

The Senate will convene at 2:00pm on Monday, July 8, 2013.

  • Following any Leader remarks, the Senate will be in a period of morning business until 5:00pm with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.
  • At 5:00pm, the Senate will proceed to Executive Session to consider Executive Calendar #90, the nomination of Gregory Alan Phillips, of Wyoming, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Tenth Circuit with 30 minutes of debate equally divided and controlled between Senators Leahy and Grassley or their designees.
  • Upon the use or yielding back of time (at approximately 5:30pm), there will be a roll call vote on confirmation of the Phillips nomination.

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Watch Live House Floor Proceedings

Last Floor Action:
10:07:36 A.M. -H.R. 2231
On agreeing
to the DeFazio amendment (A008) Roll Call 299 – Recorded vote pending.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Help Save : Bristol Bay


    We only have until May 31 to convince the Obama Administration to protect the pristine rivers and lakes of Bristol Bay. If we don’t succeed, the bay will soon be nothing more than a pit mine.
            Please sign the petition today!             Click to Add Your Name: Don’t Destroy Bristol Bay

take action
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently collecting public comments on the fate of Alaska‘s Bristol Bay. Plenty of rich, powerful companies would love to get their hands on the bay and its plentiful natural resources. Those of us who care about the environment and wildlife have to speak up to save the bay!
Click here to automatically tell the EPA that you strongly oppose the destruction of Bristol Bay.
The Pebble Mine would destroy Bristol Bay. It would turn irreplaceable wild Alaska lands into an open pit mine that covers an area 50 percent larger than Manhattan, with dams the height of Hoover Dam, and the potential to hold more than 7 billion tons of waste.Instantly add your name to the petition urging the EPA to protect one of America’s last great wild places.

care2 Thank you for taking action,
Colleen H.c
Care2 and ThePetitionSite Team
~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Save Bristol Bay: ~ repost from 2009 ~ sigh


ANCHORAGE – Seattle diners who order the salmon will get their meal with a message.

Chefs at more than a dozen restaurants are cooking up fish dishes that come with a special side: a warning that the creature’s future could be threatened by a giant gold and copper mine proposed for Bristol Bay in southwest Alaska, home to the world’s largest sockeye salmon runs.

Kevin Davis, co-owner of the Steelhead Diner, is an avid catch-and-release fly fisherman who recently returned from Washington, D.C., where he lobbied for permanent protection of Bristol Bay.

“Wild seafood is a rare and special commodity,” Davis said Thursday. “When I heard the news about the Pebble Mine and how it could potentially affect what is probably the world’s remaining strongholds of salmon, I became very concerned.”

To encourage his customers to help in the cause, the Steelhead Diner will feature three dishes using Alaska salmon: Tomato-Crusted Bristol Bay Sockeye Salmon, Meyer Lemon-Crusted Bristol Bay Sockeye Salmon and Hot-Smoked Bristol Bay Sockeye Salmon Cheesecake.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Protect Bristol Bay … Please sign the Petition


Bristol Bay is one of our most pristine national treasures, supporting tens of millions of returning wild salmon each year. This vibrant ecosystem is home to five salmon and trout species, which support over 14,000 fishing and tourism jobs from Alaska to Washington State.

But according to a draft report released by the Environmental Protection Agency that you may have seen in the news, a proposed large-scale Pebble Mine in the region could threaten our wild salmon and Washington jobs.

I’ve long said that protecting Bristol Bay salmon — and the thousands of jobs that rely on them — needs to be our top priority. We must base any future large-scale development decisions in the Bristol Bay watershed on sound science. With this new report, the evidence against the mine is mounting — and we need to speak out

Sign my petition today: Protecting Bristol Bay needs to be our top priority — too much is at stake!  click on the link below

Bristol Bay’s significance cannot be understated. It is home to the world’s largest sockeye salmon population, the largest king salmon run in Alaska, and almost one third of Alaska’s salmon population. The sockeye salmon run alone supports almost half of all wild sockeye on the planet. Bristol Bay also supports abundant wildlife such as 35 fish species, over 190 birds and 40 animal species.

We need to do everything we can to protect the commercial, subsistence, and recreational fishermen who rely on this sustainable fishery.

The EPA has the authority under Section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act to block the mine if it poses an unacceptable adverse effect on natural resources, fisheries, wildlife, waters, or recreational areas. Last year, I became the first U.S. Senator to call on the EPA to use this power if the threat to Bristol Bay’s threat to our salmon fueled coastal economy is confirmed. Will you stand with me?

Take action in support of Bristol Bay: We need to stop Bristol Bay projects that would hurt Washington jobs!

While the EPA is continuing its comprehensive investigation of the potential impact of the mine, the picture painted in this draft watershed assessment is staggering. At a minimum, the proposed mine would likely eliminate or block at least 87 miles of salmon producing streams and destroy at least 2,500 acres of wetlands.

What’s more, the mine is estimated to produce 10 billion tons of toxic mine waste as a byproduct of its operation, and even a small chance that this waste could end up in Bristol Bay is an unacceptable risk

Will you join me in showing the widespread support for protecting our Bristol Bay salmon?

Sign my petition: Make it clear that Bristol Bay’s fish and wildlife need to come first!

So far, the evidence confirms what Alaska and Washington fishermen feared: that the world’s largest salmon fishery cannot co-exist with large-scale mining.

We need to do all we can to make sure the waters of Bristol Bay come first, and Washingtonian voices are heard in this process. Thanks for your help.

Sincerely,

Maria Cantwell  U.S. Senator

P.S. After you’ve signed my petition, please forward this email to five friends so that they can take action in support of Bristol Bay, too!