In January 2023, the federal government of the United States issued landmark decisions affecting two controversial projects to exploit mineral resources on public lands. One was an industrial-scale copper mine, the Pebble Mine in south central Alaska, and oil drilling program in the Willow Concessions on the North Slope of Alaska. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) vetoed the Pebble Mine citing its potential impact on an economically important population of salmon, while the Interior Department approved the environmental impact assessment (EIA) for drilling in the Artic Petroleum Reserve that will, coincidentally, prolong the useful life of the Trans Alaska Pipeline System. In each these decisions, the Biden administration balanced the advice of environmental scientists with the economic and political power of corporations, while taking the pulse of disparate stakeholder groups via a consultation process influenced by regulatory provisions and public relations campaigns. The veto was catalyzed by a fight for Indigenous rights, while the oil drilling permit will favor a well-established industry that pays hundreds of millions of dollars in tax and royalty revenues to local and regional governments. If this type of regulatory and public relations confrontation is common in an advanced economy, such as the United States, then no one should be surprised that similar battles are being waged in the Pan Amazon. The specifics are different but the outcomes will probably be similar. Some will move forward and some will not. Grasshoppers in the Colombian rainforest. Image by Rhett A. Butler. Industrial minerals and corporate mines The…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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