Trump Administration Reverses Environmental Policy
ALLEN: Bristol Bay in Alaska is one of the world's great habitats for sockeye salmon. It could be in danger now that the Trump administration has cleared the way for the construction of a new gold mine. A meeting on the president's airplane, Air Force One, set everything in motion. CNN's senior investigative correspondent Drew Griffin has the exclusive details.</s>DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPODENT (voice-over): The meeting took place on the tarmac during of an Air Force One stopover June 26th. Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy, a pro-mining, pro-business, anti-EPA governor met with Donald Trump for nearly a half hour.</s>GOV.  MIKE DUNLEAVY (R-AK): I just got off of Air Force One with being with President Trump.</s>GRIFFIN: Dunleavy has been pushing for approval of a massive gold and copper mine known as the Pebble Mine, planned for Alaska's Bristol Bay watershed, home to the breeding grounds for one of the world's largest and most pristine sockeye salmon fisheries. And after his meeting aboard Air Force One, Dunleavy said this about the president.</s>DUNLEAVY: He really believes in the opportunities here in Alaska and he's doing everything he can to work with us on our mining concerns.</s>GRIFFIN: Inside EPA, sources now tell CNN the very next day, June 27th, top EPA officials in Washington held an internal video conference with Seattle and told the staff the EPA was removing a special protection for Bristol Bay and in essence clearing the way for what could be one of the largest open pit mines in the world. That internal announcement was a total shock to top EPA scientist, sources told CNN, because their environmental concerns were overruled by Trump political appointees. Bristol Bay and the tributaries are regarded as one of the most important salmon fisheries --</s>GRIFFIN: -- roughly half the world's sockeye salmon come from here. It's been protected since 2014, when after three years of study, the Obama era EPA used a rare provision of the Clean Water Act to basically veto any mining that could pose a threat. EPA scientists writing a mine would result in complete loss of fish habitat that was irreversible.</s>CHRISTINE TODD WHITMAN (R), FORMER NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR: It's mindboggling that it's still being considered at all.</s>GRIFFIN: Christine Todd Whitman is a Republican, a former New Jersey governor and under President George W. Bush ran the EPA. She has joined several other former EPA chiefs to publicly oppose the mine.</s>WHITMAN: The potential damage is so overwhelming. The opposition to it up there is amazing. Over 80 miles of streams, thousands of acres could be damaged from this project.</s>GRIFFIN: This is the second time during the Trump administration the political appointees at the EPA have decided to remove special protections for Bristol Bay to pave the way for this huge mine. In 2017, President Trump's first EPA administrator, scandal-plagued Scott Pruitt cancelled the protections after a private meeting with the mine company CEO. After a CNN report exposed the meeting and lack of scientific debate behind the reversal, Pruitt backed down and put the protections back in place. Now another private meeting, this time with the president himself, has led to another win for the mine and removal of environmental protections for this pristine watershed.</s>WHITMAN: One of the most troubling things about the administration on the environmental side is this disregard of science. There -- they're gutting science across the agencies, across the departments, across the government.</s>GRIFFIN (on camera): Even if scientists at the EPA are advising you, Mr. President, this is very dangerous to the environment, to the fisheries, to the state of Alaska -- if the president decides, that's the decision?</s>WHITMAN: That's the decision.</s>GRIFFIN: And the only recourse then is for environmental groups to sue?</s>WHITMAN: Environmental groups, Native Alaskans, they'll have a host of lawsuits, I am convinced.</s>GRIFFIN (voice-over): Alaska's governor Mike Dunleavy, elected last fall, is a huge Trump supporter. He's met with President Trump multiple times, sent this letter to the president asking for a long list of EPA reversals, including what he called the clean water 404 veto, a direct reference to Pebble Mine. A member of his staff used to work on the Pebble project in public relations. And at EPA headquarters Andrew Wheeler, the former coal company lobbyist who now runs the agency, has ties to Pebble Mine, too. He has recused himself from decision making on the project because his former law firm represents the mine.</s>GRIFFIN: In response to this report, the EPA said the Obama-era protections were outdated and this mine would still have to go through approval process. Our sources are telling us, it's really a done deal. And when we asked the EPA about that internal meeting on June 27th. At first the EPA denied it even happened. But then we presented them with our evidence. They admitted the meeting took place. And our sources say that is when officials told scientists at the EPA the decision on Bristol Bay was made. And their work was not needed -- Drew Griffin, CNN, Atlanta.</s>ALLEN: Next here, a new issue between India and Pakistan, all around the autonomous region of Kashmir. We'll get the latest after this.