EPA Rushing Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment; Ignoring Local Concerns

July 16, 2012 | Filed under Categories,EPA | Posted by

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson

In May we highlighted the EPA’s controversial watershed assessment for Bristol Bay, Alaska. The EPA plans to use its power to pre-emptively deny mining in the area, even before any mines are actually proposed. The Pebble Mine site is the worlds largest untapped deposit of copper and rare earth materials, and is located in the area studied and the EPA is trying to kill it for the green lobby before the project is even formally proposed.

The EPA is rushing the public comment period on this study, holding townhall meeting in Seattle (1500 miles away from the mine site), and refusing to meet with those who support or have studied the project. Senator Lisa Murkowski spills the details.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, today criticized the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for refusing to give Alaskans more time to comment on the agency’s controversial watershed assessment of the Bristol Bay region.

“The EPA’s refusal to provide additional time for the public to comment on the draft watershed assessment for Bristol Bay demonstrates, once again, that the agency does not understand Alaska,” Murkowski said. “There is no deadline – other than the one arbitrarily imposed by the EPA – that requires the agency to act now.”

Murkowski raised her concerns about the limited comment period directly with EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. Murkowski said the comment period, which is currently scheduled to close July 23, coincides with the busy summer season in Alaska, when many Alaskans are out commercial or subsistence fishing.

“I’m disappointed that the EPA’s Washington-based leaders have failed to see the benefits of allowing Alaskans adequate time to comment on an assessment that could have significant consequences for the future of our state,” Murkowski said.

Resourceful Earth has set up a convenient action alert site which allows you to write to your representatives about the situation. Access it here.

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Posted by on July 16, 2012.
Filed under Categories, EPA.
Tagged with: .
Kevin founded Wizbang in 2003. He still contributes occasionally and handles all the technical and design work for the site.

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  • Wild_Willie

    The same department that allegedly told Obama they need more time for the Keystone Pipeline assessment. ww

    • http://www.rustedsky.net JLawson

      It’s all about visibility. This isn’t anywhere near so visible, so they can expedite the denial.

  • GarandFan

    Like ObamaCare, no imput is really wanted or desired. They’ve already made up their minds. The rest is theater.

  • Guest

    Why is Murkowski stalling? Is she hoping for a Romney win and a change in the EPA’s direction on this?

    That would explain it. I fail to see any other pressing reason why stalling is needed.

    • http://wizbangblog.com/author/rodney-graves/ Rodney G. Graves

      DERP!

      • 914

        Damn, you beat me there!!

    • Vagabond661

      Can you see any reason why rushing is warranted? Could it be they are afraid Obama will lose his bid for a second term which would result in a change in the EPA’s over reaching policy?

    • What_a_wonderful_world

      Really Grumpy??? Really???? You fail to see any pressing reason????? any at all???? You fail to see any reason why citizens in Alaska would need to ensure there voices are being heard???? More likely… maybe you just fail.

      • http://www.rustedsky.net JLawson

        If you take the attitude that, no matter what the conditions, government is always right – then there’s no need to delay for input from the people you’re regulating.

        But if you instead understand that cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all policy ensures that one size fits none, you’d get the concept that just maybe people involved in what’s being regulated should have input into the process.

        Overall, it’s not hard to tell what some folks tend to believe on this – isn’t it?

  • 914

    The EPA is Looking more like the Gestapo all the time.

    • jim_m

      Just wait til they deploy those 13,000 new IRS agents for 0bamacare. You ain’t seen nothing yet.

  • http://www.rustedsky.net JLawson

    The trouble with the EPA is that they’ve got a vastly overinflated sense of their own importance. They’ll chase after folks who buy an acre that MIGHT be a wetland, fine their asses off, and force them to the Supreme Court to even get the right to fight the EPA.

    http://www.pacificlegal.org/Sackett (Probably better briefs out there, but that’ll do for the overall story…)

    I’m not arguing against regulation. I’m arguing against EXCESSIVE regulation. The EPA’s tack seems to be that there’s nothing too small to pay attention to, down to the ditches in your back yard.

    http://ibankcoin.com/americantyranny/idiots-at-epa-claim-private-ditches-as-part-of-navigatable-waterways-under-cwa/

    The upside of excessive regulation for the government is that at some point everyone’s guilty of something. And that, properly played, that guilt can be used for social control.

    But once people understand that no matter what they do, they’ll be guilty of something… then they shrug. If they’re already offending on small stuff, what’s the point in being worried about the big? Might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb, as the saying goes.

    This was about the home mortgage mess –

    What’s really important is Brian and Ilsa: What’s really important is that law-abiding middle-class citizens are deciding that playing by the rules is nothing but a sucker’s game.

    Just like the poker player who’s been fleeced by all the other players, and
    gets one mean attitude once he finally wakes up to the con? I’m betting
    that more and more of the solid American middle-class will begin saying
    what Brian and Ilsa said: Fuckit.

    Fuck the rules. Fuck playing the game the banksters want you to play. Fuck
    being the good citizen. Fuck filling out every form, fuck paying every
    tax. Fuck the government, fuck the banks who own them. Fuck the
    free-loaders, living rent-free while we pay. Fuck the legal process, a
    game which only works if you’ve got the money to pay for the parasite
    lawyers. Fuck being a chump. Fuck being a stooge. Fuck trying to do the right thing—what good does that get you? What good is coming your way?

    Fuckit.

    When the backbone of a country starts thinking that laws and rules are not
    worth following, it’s just a hop, skip and a jump to anarchy.

    http://gonzalolira.blogspot.com/2010/10/coming-middle-class-anarchy.html

    Bloomberg squanders good will by insisting that even diet in NY must be regulated. A SF restaurant defies the law and serves forbidden food.

    http://ca.news.yahoo.com/san-francisco-restaurant-defies-californias-foie-gras-ban-180729692.html

    The bureaucratic response to kickback? Pass more regulations!

    Because certainly, at some point, the sheer mass of regulations is going to become self-enforcing, right? Either that – or the structure will collapse in on itself.

    I think the latter much before the former, for some reason. The problem comes when the regulatory structure is seen as far more important than anything which actually comes of the activity that’s regulated.

    Play by the rules, and they’ll write new rules that end up screwing you. Something’s got to give.

    • jim_m

      “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.”Henry VI (Part 2) (Act IV, Scene II)

      Hundreds of years old and still good sense.