FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 15, 2014
Today, Representative Les Gara (D-Anchorage) released the following statement after the Environmental Protection Agency issued its final assessment of the impact of mining in the Bristol Bay region of Alaska.
“No one wants the feds to do the state’s work, but Governor Parnell wouldn’t stand up for the state on Pebble. The governor should have taken action to protect the world’s greatest wild salmon and trout streams. The feds unfortunately had to come in to do what Governor Parnell refused to do—protect Alaska’s sport, subsistence and commercial fish. I’d rather have had the state exercise its sovereignty and protect Bristol Bay. But the Governor effectively called on the feds to do his job,” said Gara.
“Between weakened clean water rules from the Murkowski era, and the governor’s new bill to allow unsustainable amounts of water to be taken from our fishing streams, this governor is doing what he promised he wouldn’t—trading one resource for another,” Gara continued.
###
