Copper for Hybrids: EPA Waves Precaution Flag

On May 18, the Environmental Protection Agency took sides with opponents of Pebble Partnership, a company exploring a copper deposit, some 200 miles west of Anchorage, Alaska. Pebble is probably the largest accessible aggregation of copper-bearing minerals in North America.

The Obama Administration has been under relentless pressure to stop Pebble—much more of the pressure emanating from hordes of bicoastal environmentalists as opposed to citizens of sparsely populated Alaska. EPA’s Assessment of Potential Mining Impacts on Salmon Ecosystems of Bristol Bay, Alaska is designed as the first step to do just that, before the Pebble developers have even submitted one permit application.