Shively leaving the top job at Pebble

[unhappycamper]

http://www.adn.com/2014/02/04/3307266/shively-leaving-the-top-job-at.html

Shively leaving the top job at Pebble
By LISA DEMER
February 4, 2014 Updated 9 hours ago

John Shively is stepping down from the post he has held since 2008 as chief executive of Pebble Ltd. Partnership, the group whose controversial bid to develop a gold and copper mine in the Bristol Bay area is under regulatory scrutiny and facing financial challenges.

He's being replaced as chief executive by attorney Tom Collier of the law firm Steptoe and Johnson, where he's worked for 40 years. Collier's speciality is guiding companies through the federal environmental permitting process, Pebble said.

In particular, Collier has experience with the Clean Water Act 404 wetlands permit, which is overseen by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Environmental Protection Agency has veto authority to prohibit filling in wetlands where the practice would hurt water supplies, fisheries, wildlife or recreation, and is considering whether to block the Pebble project.

Shively, 70, will become chairman of the board of directors for the Pebble project. He will continue to work part-time and will work with Collier and the board on strategic decisions, Pebble spokesman Mike Heatwole said in an email.

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And then those damn climate people checked in:

http://www.adn.com/2014/02/04/3306863/hundreds-of-scientists-sign-onto.html



The Mulchatna River lies at the heart of the Nushagak watershed. All five Pacific salmon species spawn in the Mulchatna and its tributaries, which include the Koktuli and Stuyahok Rivers.

Hundreds of scientists sign letter urging EPA to act against Pebble
By LISA DEMER
February 4, 2014 Updated 9 hours ago

A group of 360 scientists, researchers and university professors signed a letter hand-delivered Tuesday that urges the Environmental Protection Agency to protect Bristol Bay from the proposed Pebble mine.

The letter was given to Dennis McLerran, the Seattle-based administrator of EPA's region 10, before his morning talk at an environmental conference in Anchorage.

The scientists' names fill more than 12 pages, starting with Peter Abrams, a University of Toronto professor emeritus in ecology and evolutionary biology, and ending with Roman Zurek, an associate professor at the Institute of Nature Conservation at the Polish Academy of Science. In between are scientists from all over the country and world, including Alaska.

The group praised the EPA for its study, released last month, that concluded a big mine posed serious risks to Bristol Bay's massive sockeye salmon runs -- the biggest in the world. Pebble Ltd. Partnership proposes developing a copper and gold mine at the headwaters of two Bristol Bay salmon-producing rivers. A coalition of tribes and Alaska Native groups had petitioned the EPA to veto the mine through the Clean Water Act even before developers seek major permits. Instead the agency undertook the watershed study.