BLM Letter
Bureau of Land Management,
I am writing in response to the Draft Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement put out for the Bristol Bay and Goodnews Bay regions.
The current preferred alternative (Alternative D) does far too little to protect the extraordinary ecological values of the Bristol Bay region. The Bristol Bay watershed is one of the world's most productive salmon spawning grounds. Much of the BLM's land holdings in the area lie on salmon spawning streams, near major salmon-bearing rivers (the Nushagak and the Kvichak).
Despite this, not a single Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) is designated in the Bristol Bay watershed. The only ACEC - on Carter Spit, allows both oil and gas drilling and hardrock mining to occur in the area.
This proposal opens virtually the entire region to hard rock mining and oil and gas drilling. These industries have a high potential for creating pollution, and could significantly endanger the wildlife and renewable resources in the area. Hard rock mining, in particular, poses a very high risk to the water quality necessary for the region's abundant salmon runs. According to the EPA, it has polluted 40% of western watersheds in the continental U.S.
Alternative D is prresented as a "balanced" plan, balancing ecological values and resource extraction. This "balance" allows mining and drilling on over a million acres of pristine wilderness, while doing almost nothing to protect ecological values or extraction of the region's renewable resources, such as salmon.
Fish and mineral extraction do not go together - the Bristol Bay watershed should not be open to hard rock mining.
The Bristol Bay watershed is an Area of Critical Environmental Concern. I urge you to designate it as one and take steps to protect its values - by prohibiting oil and gas drilling and hard rock mining within this critical salmon habitat.
Sincerely,
_________________
Deadline February 5, 2007 - Send to:
Bureau of Land Management
Anchorage Field Office
Attn: Bay Draft RMP/EIS
6881 Abbott Loop Road
Anchorage, Alaska 99507
Mark Fullmer, NEPA Coordinator
Phone: (907) 267-1264
Email: akbayrmp@
View the draft plan on-line at:
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