I suppose Oklahoma is a lot closer to Alaska... just sayin.
The fact of the matter is that the local Alaskans that depend upon the Salmon harvest in the area that WILL BE affected by this mine, DO NOT wish to risk destroying their livelihood.
Copper mining is one of the most environmentally unfriendly mining operations there is. Just saying.
That doesn’t explain why the EPA was intent on killing the project two years before any study was done.
Do you like electricity? Then we need copper.
Maybe it's just me or do people think that if it (Pebble Mine) ever gets going that the government just turns and walks away, allowing this or any mining operation (or logging, or farming, or oil rig etc etc..) to dirty the waters or operate with no oversight?
Perhaps you can explain why the most highly prized, expensive and heavily marketed Alaska salmon spawn in the tailings of an unregulated copper mine. (Google Copper River Red Salmon or Kennicott mine)
Following that you can ask why there are any salmon at all left in Bristol bay. In 1912, Mt. Katami erupted and spilled 2 1/2 cubic miles of highly sulphuric volcanic ash into the watershed. Steam still seeps from the "valley of ten thousand smokes". The lakes there are still stained and colored with ash and pumice from the eruption and support the highest population of salmon in the world. There are rivers and creeks that run off of the volcanic areas with a ph of 10+ where salmon spawn today.
The impact of nature over the last hundred years has been orders of magnitude greater than even a catastrophic failure at the proposed mine.
The Bristol Bay Area is a bountiful resource where salmon is in abundance for 6 weeks a year. The rest of the time is is an area of extreme poverty steeped in alcoholism, substance abuse, suicide, and dependency. The pebble project would boost the economy, add year round jobs and break the cycle of abuse and dependency in the region.