Feds Remove Southwest Alaska Mining Restrictions

Although it won’t directly influence the ongoing debate over the proposed Pebble Mine, which is in the hands of the state, the BLM’s decision to remove decades-old restrictions on mining from some 1 million acres of the Bristol Bay region is angering locals and conservationists. “Large blocks of land that agency officials plan to reopen to mineral entry are located on uplands in the Nushagak and Kvichak river drainages, which feed some of Bristol Bay’s commercial, subsistence and sport fisheries. The Nushagak is the state’s largest king salmon producer and the Kvichak is the state’s largest sockeye producer.” Elizabeth Bluemink in the Anchorage Daily News.