a message from Natural Resouces Defense Council

*please take a moment and read this message from the NRDC and then take action--thank you.

		Dear Eric, Tell EPA: Say No to Pebble Mine! Scientific findings confirm that large-scale mining would be a disaster for the salmon, the environment and the people of Bristol Bay. Tell EPA to save this natural treasure from the devastating impacts of the Pebble Mine! The results are in, and the science is clear: Pebble Mine would be disastrous for Bristol Bay. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has just released a scientific assessment of Alaska’s Bristol Bay watershed. Those draft findings show unequivocally that large-scale mining would jeopardize the area’s legendary salmon runs -- the lynchpin of this world-class ecosystem and its Native communities. Yet, global mining giants are pressing forward with plans to gouge one of the world’s largest gold and copper mines out of the headwaters of Bristol Bay -- and they’ll do everything they can to try and discredit the new EPA study. You and I must mobilize overwhelming public support for EPA’s findings -- and prevail on the agency to act on them. Tell EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to save Bristol Bay by banning large-scale mining, including the Pebble Mine. The EPA study is grounded in sound science that was not bought and paid for by the mining industry. And it confirms what you and I have known all along: there’s no way to dig a mine 2,000 feet deep and generate billions of tons of contaminated waste and not have a dramatic impact on the environment. Even at its minimum size, the proposed Pebble Mine would destroy thousands of acres of wetlands and more than 50 miles of streams that are crucial to some of the world’s biggest wild salmon runs. The EPA has the authority under the Clean Water Act to block terribly destructive projects like the Pebble Mine. But they need to hear from hundreds of thousands of concerned citizens immediately. Send a message to EPA right now. Urge the agency to act on its findings and protect the environment and the people of the Bristol Bay watershed. Thank you for standing with NRDC to stop the Pebble Mine. Sincerely, Frances Beinecke President Natural Resources Defense Council