"Controversial Alaskan Gold Mine Could Be Revived Under Trump’s EPA"

"The Trump administration has taken a key step toward paving the way for a controversial gold, copper and molybdenum mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay watershed, marking a sharp reversal from President Barack Obama’s opposition to the project.

The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday proposed withdrawing its 2014 determination barring any large-scale mine in the area because it would imperil the region’s valuable sockeye salmon fishery. The agency said it would accept public comments on the proposal for the next 90 days.

'The facts haven’t changed. The science hasn’t changed. The opposition hasn’t changed,' said Taryn Kiekow Heimer, a senior policy analyst at the Natural Resources Defense Council, which has fought the proposed mine. 'The fact that it’s the wrong mine in the wrong place hasn’t changed. But the politics have changed.'"

Brady Dennis reports for the Washington Post July 11, 2017.