It has always been a match made in peril: One of the biggest copper and gold mines in the world, 50% owned by Anglo American [and with a smaller involvement by Rio Tinto], perched in the watershed above Bristol Bay, Alaska — the last, best refuge for millions of Pacific wild salmon.
The proposed Pebble Mine would dwarf all the others operating in the Alaskan wilderness and generate up to 9 billion tons of ore, most of which would have to be sifted and disposed of near the ponds and streams that feed into Bristol Bay.
In an attempt to head off the project before it gets too big to stop, a coalition of Alaska Native village corporations and others filed suit this week in Anchorage, charging that the state was violating its Constitution by allowing drilling and other exploration to proceed without full environmental review.
Read more at http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-pebble-mine31-2009jul31,0,7020544.story and http://www.adn.com/front/story/880648.html?storylink=pd.