Pebble Mine and Bristol Bay with Sarah O'Neal

Fisherwomen

In this week’s episode I’ll be speaking with Sarah O’Neal, PhD candidate at the University of Washington, about the impacts of the proposed Pebble Mine on Bristol Bay Sockeye Salmon. Update: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers determined on Monday, October 19 that, “the project as proposed cannot be permitted under the Clean Water Act.” According to the USACE announcement, the mitigation burdens for the proposed Pebble Mine had not been met, and USACE has given developers 90 days to return with a revised proposal. But we’re not in the clear yet. Listen and learn about this critical issue and why copper mines pose a particular threat to aquatic life and salmon specifically. Our Creature Feature this week is on the endangered Least Tern and comes from Nora Papian, a graduate of Humboldt State University’s M.S. Wildlife program. Resources Documentary, “Just Keep Swimming” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQy7vRUT4HQ Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment (EPA 2014): https://www.epa.gov/bristolbay/bristol-bay-assessment-final-report-2014 Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Pebble Project (USACE 2020): https://www.pebbleprojecteis.com/documents/finaleis “Bristol Bay Alaska: natural resources of the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems (edited by Carole Ann Woody 2018): https://www.amazon.com/Bristol- Bay-Alaska-Terrestrial-Ecosystems Fisheries and Hard Rock Mining: AFS Symposium Synopsis (Sarah O’Neal 2012): https://www.researchgate.net/publication/241727916_Fisheries_and_Hard_Rock_Mining_AFS_Symposium_Synopsis Trout Unlimited’s campaign to protect Bristol Bay on social media: https://www.facebook.com/SaveBristolBay ; https://www.instagram.com/savebristolbay/?hl=en ; https://twitter.com/SaveBristolBay Sarah O’Neal in the field in Alaska: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bt1W6ypFpMo Sarah O’Neal on ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sarah_Oneal2 “Apparent survival of snowy plovers varies seasonally” (M.S. Thesis, Nora Papian, 2018): https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/etd/128/ Background and Recent Developments (2014 – July 2019): This CNN article summarizes the timeline from 2014 through July 2019: https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/09/us/epa-alaska-pebble-mine-salmon-invs/index.html (August 2020) Politico on Trump’s decision to put the brakes on Pebble: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/22/trump-set-to-block-alaska-pebble-mine-400206 (September 2020) NYTimes article on the Pebble Mine tapes: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/21/climate/pebble-mine-alaska.html (September 2020) Pebble Tapes: https://eia-global.org/reports/20200921-the-pebble-tapes (October 2020) Midnight Sun article analyzing Alaska Governor Dunlevy’s letter supporting the mine, includes a link to the actual letter: https://midnightsunak.com/2020/10/15/pebble-opponents-call-dunleavys-divisive-pro-pebble-shows-how-little-he-knows-about-bristol-bay/?fbclid=IwAR17FaM8AW4ueavoiqGmOAeQVLG-9q97RaxAEhbCYnBBCwdkkkVv0KdZpo8 Credits Thank you to Sarah O’Neal for the great cover photo of herself for this episode. Theme mixed by me, using sounds sourced from sfxgo, orangefreesound, and freesound. Please see website for full credits.