Actor Michael Keaton Stands Up For Salmon, Bristol Bay In Pebble Mine Plea

Alaskan salmon have a new famous friend: @MichaelKeaton. Thanks Michael for your support of @wildsalmoncntr's work to protect Alaska's Bristol Bay from the proposed Pebble Mine! #DefendBristolBay https://t.co/9VaxSthlM9

— Wild Salmon Center (@wildsalmoncntr) May 24, 2019

When I was in college, my roommate worked at a nearby restaurant as a server and excitedly announced after he returned that actor Michael Keaton dined at his establishment (it was a long time ago and I can’t remember what, if any, film, Keaton was shooting in town, but it wasn’t long after his first turn as the Caped Crusader. We joked that my friend should have taken Keaton’s order and then proclaimed, “I’m Batman.”

For those working so hard to fight the Pebble Mine project that could potentially threaten Bristol Bay’s salmon runs, you could do a lot worse than having a respected A-lister like Keaton on your side. As the Hollywood Reporter explains, Keaton’s place as a conservationist advocate (and a diehard angler)  and appearance at a fundraiser put on by the Wild Salmon Center recently included his making a strong statement about the mine’s place in such a delicate watershed. Here’s reporter Chris Gardner:

President Donald Trump’s administration has cleared the way for construction of the mine, something that doesn’t sit well with Keaton.

“If you ruin this particular area, you demolish the entire population,” Keaton explains of the situation, which he refers to as a micro example of his macro environmental concerns. “Something like 60 million salmon every year pass through this area. Eventually these [mines] will leak and affect the fish. As a 35-plus-year fly fisherman, yeah, I care, but more than that, inevitably in these situations, it’s the people who suffer the most because it hurts the local economy, it hurts jobs, it hurts tourism. It’s not like the administration doesn’t care — they are actively trying to do things to destroy, dismantle and remove this [bay].”