IMWA — Mine Water Forum

The EPA has completed a risk assessment of the potential impacts of large-scale mining in a region that provides habitat for the world's largest remaining wild salmon populations. The document (with supporting appendices and instructions for commenting) can be found at:
http://yosemite.epa.gov/R10/ECOCOMM.NSF ... bristolbay

What do you think of the assessment?
What do you think of the policy of a federal entity conducting such a risk assessment?
Under what situations do you think such an assessment should occur?
Decades ago in the US, it was government employees that collected data -- not consultants paid by mining companies -- therefore the data was public. Is it time to bring that practice back?

Just to comment quickly on this. My thoughts are that this depends on the country. In some cases there is a definite advantage to having a consistent level of data collection by a well-established, funded and organised government body which is the case with the US EPA. However, from experience working in many developing countries the resources to do this are simply not developed yet and therefore, in order to attain the standards required for an internationally recognised EIA the full independence and experience of a geoenvironmental consultant is essential.