The Renewable
Resources Coalition's
Weekly News Updates
Tips of the Week!
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****Top Story****
Who Should Get Water Rights: Fish or Pebble Mine?
by Jason Moore, KTUU Television
Thursday, March 8, 2007
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- It's a question folks in the Bristol
Bay region are asking themselves: Is water more precious
than gold? The questions centers around what could become
the Pebble Mine in the headwaters of Bristol Bay salmon
streams. Just how close could the mine be to salmon runs?
One group says too close for comfort….
To view article in its entirety and to see the video
of the story, please visit
http://ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?Sb02394
To view the new map of the proposed Pebble Mine footprint
and salmon at ground zero, please visit
http://www.renewableresourcescoalition.org/fish_distribution_salmon.pdf
Pebble threatens ANWR hopes
Rep. Jay Ramras
Fairbanks Daily News Miner
March 4, 2007
Opponents of Northern Dynasty’s proposed Pebble
Mine say a new opinion poll shows that provisions in Bristol
Bay protection bills now before the Alaska Legislature
are supported by a vast majority of Alaskans.
To view article in its entirety, please click on
http://newsminer.com/2007/03/04/5670/
Fisheries protection proposal generates spirited testimony
Bill seeks protective measures for salmon in Bristol Bay
area
By STEVE QUINN
the Associated Press
March 1, 2007
A House subcommittee heard more than two hours of testimony
Wednesday on a bill designed to protect Bristol Bay fisheries
- possibly at the expense the prospective Pebble Mine
project.
To view article in its entirety, please click on
http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/030107/sta_20070301016.shtml
Bristol Bay speaks on watershed bill
PEBBLE: Legislation aims to protect salmon; some fear
it would stop development.
By Elizabeth Bluemink
Anchorage Daily News
March 3, 2007
Some Southwest Alaska business owners, villagers and
fishermen told legislators Friday it's a good idea to
put salmon before mining gold and copper in their region.
To view article in its entirety, please click on
http://www.adn.com/money/story/8681917p-8577804c.html
Northern Dynasty skeptical of survey methods, results
Pebble poll shows support for habitat protection
By Hal Spence
Peninsula Clarion
March 2, 2007
Opponents of Northern Dynasty’s proposed Pebble
Mine say a new opinion poll shows that provisions in Bristol
Bay protection bills now before the Alaska Legislature
are supported by a vast majority of Alaskans.
To view article in its entirety, please click on
http://www.peninsulaclarion.com/stories/030207/news_0302new004.shtml
Tribes recall a dam closure that ended a way of life
By John Enge
Alaska Report
Published: March 7, 2007
I thought I was seeing where residents of the villages
near the proposed Pebble Mine on the Alaska Peninsula
were frustrated with the fishing industry to the point
they would support a big mine in their back yard. I'm
here to tell you that two wrongs don't make a right.
Residents out there in Bristol Bay need to get behind
their Regional Seafood Development Association to give
voice to the smallest fishing family and to get back to
the things they know and love. To get together on a grass
roots level to effect change. Villagers and fishermen
have a chance to mold a fishing industry out there in
the way THEY want. In the rest of Alaska too, for that
matter.
To view article in its entirety, please click on
http://www.alaskareport.com/je20069.htm
The Sockeye and Cyanide
By Steve Maher
Environmental Activism: Essays
Spring 2007
Brown bears wait patiently along the banks of the major
rivers of southwestern Alaska. They have fished these
waters for eons, generation after generation following
in the steps of their ancestors. The peninsula here is
mostly treeless, with a few scrubby spruce, alder and
birch, the tundra giving way to silty, shallow rivers,
miles wide, along its shore and cloud-shrouded volcanoes
at its crest.
To view article in its entirety, please click on
http://www.patagonia.com/web/us/patagonia.go?assetid261
Doubletalk express
Bill Smith
Homer Tribune
March 7, 2007
The last time John McCain ran for president, he went
for outsider appeal and named his campaign “The Straight
Talk Express.” He started this campaign with the
same slogan, but has since abandoned it along with the
principles that made him seem different. This year he
“got in bed with” the very principles he disdained
last time around. Were you really thinking that marriage
was reserved for one woman and one man?
So I named this column for McCain and similar local politicians
and people who seem to think if they just pretend hard
enough, we won’t notice their state of undress. Reminds
me of a kid with chocolate smeared on his face denying
he got into the Oreos.
A number of people are embarrassing us with their claims
of apocalypse as they attempt to grease the rails in Juneau
for their attempt to stop the Pebble mine.
To view article in its entirety, please click on
http://www.homertribune.com/article.php?aid52
Northern Dynasty’s proposed Pebble mine
has the makings of a great show
Jack Caldwell
I Think Mining
InfoMine, Inc.
March 6, 2007
I read with horror (and secret delight) a report that Robert
Dickinson, Chairman of Northern Dynasty Minerals, the company
seeking to develop the Pebble mine in Alaska, predicted that
“opponents of North America’s largest copper deposit
and largest known gold accumulation will fail miserably in
their efforts to stop development of Alaska’s Pebble
project.” We all love a duel, and we all love an epic
battle between strong fighters. I love watching WWE, boxing,
and Eugene Onegin (Act 2), and their enduring popularity proves
I am not alone in the animal delight that goes with seeing
strong men beat up on one another. Seems to me Robert Dickinson
has thrown down the gauntlet and set the stage for an epic
duel. And we will all watch with bloody interest.
To view article in its entirety, please click on
http://miningtechnology.wordpress.com/2007/03/06/northern-dynastys-proposed-pebble-mine-will-be-a-great-show/
NEPA process a litigation gauntlet
'Single Greatest Impediment to Project Permitting' in Alaska
By Vivian Danielson
The Northern Miner
March 05, 2007
NORTHERN DYNASTY
Drilling on Northern Dynasty's Pebble copper-gold project
in the Bristol Bay region of Alaska. Pebble opponents are
lobbying hard for a fish-and-game refuge in the Bristol Bay
area, along with various other proposals aimed at halting
the project before it enters the permitting stage.
To view article in its entirety, please click on
http://www.northernminer.com/issues/ISarticle.asp?id4092&story_idY17092553&issue
My turn: Getting the truth out about Pebble
By Ginger Johnson
Juneau Empire
March 5, 2007
One month ago, I joined the board of a group called Truth
About Pebble because I was bothered by the amount of misinformation
being peddled by individuals who want to stop the Pebble project
before it has a chance to even apply for the 67 permits that
will be required for the mine to be developed.
To view article in its entirety, please click on
http://juneauempire.com/stories/030507/opi_20070305005.shtml
Marketing, management and a mine all on the
agenda for ComFish
By Margaret Bauman
Alaska Journal of Commerce
March 4, 2007
Offshore exploration, king crab stocks, the Pebble mine project,
Exxon Valdez oil spill litigation and seafood marketing are
all on the agenda for ComFish 2007, March 15-17 in Kodiak.
To view article in its entirety, please click on
http://www.alaskajournal.com/stories/030407/hom_20070304038.shtml
Letters to the Editor
Many places to mine; Pebble not one of them
Dave Atcheson
Peninsula Clarion
March 5, 2007
http://www.peninsulaclarion.com/stories/030507/letters_20070305001.shtml
I can’t help but respond to Scott Thorson’s column
proposing we just “give Pebble Mine a chance.”
In it he calls opponents’ arguments against the mine
“tripe,” which is what I could say for most of
his recent diatribe in favor of this potential catastrophe.
First of all, this guy is a board member of the Alaska
Resources Development Council, a group that advocates the
extraction of Alaska’s mineral resources, anytime,
anywhere and at the expense of all other resources, in this
case one of the world’s richest fisheries. Like all
proponents of the mine, he says we should take a wait-and-see
approach. He also talks about truth, but states that Northern
Dynasty has not applied for any permits, when in fact they
have filed for the water rights on upper Talaric Creek and
the Koktuli River and are proposing building a series of
dams, the largest of which could span 4.3 miles and stretch
740 feet high.
He also accuses opponents of this project of being in cahoots
with all variety of large environmental lobbies. Well, I’m
just a regular guy, a fisherman and hunter who loves Alaska
and has looked at the facts — and, quite frankly, the
track record of these foreign companies and their legacy
of polluted streams and ruined fisheries speaks volumes.
Alaska has many places where resources can be safely extracted,
this sensitive area, however, is not one of them. To put
a mine of this size and type at the headwaters of Bristol
Bay is nothing short of foolhardy, and I would implore anyone
who hunts or fishes, anyone who is concerned about our wildlife
and water, anyone who loves Alaska, to wholeheartedly oppose
this very shortsighted and ill-conceived project.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vast doesn’t necessarily last
Stephanie Patton
Juneau Empire
March 2, 2007
http://juneauempire.com/stories/030207/let_20070302015.shtml
Visitors come to Alaska for its pure, authentic, untouched
beauty. It's true, Alaska is a vast land, but vast doesn't
necessarily last.
If money is the issue, which it clearly always is, think
of how much money we'll lose if we keep tearing up our land.
I have a difficult time thinking people will come up to visit
our destroyed forests. Human beings by nature turn to beauty
and turn away from ugliness.
I know that the road construction on Gravina is one project,
but one project is never left alone. There's always more involved.
We will keep connecting by dissecting our land if we don't
set some limits. The Gravina project is a great example to
start setting some limits.
We as a species are asleep to everything but ourselves. Human
beings were not the first species to arrive here, but will
certainly be the last if we don't wake up to the wildlife
before us. Alaska is one of the few places on Earth that is
still pristine and undeveloped. Let's keep the beauty we have
and build on that, instead of losing and going the other way.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
‘Truth’ getting harder to believe
William Phillips
Peninsula Clarion
March 2, 2007
http://www.peninsulaclarion.com/stories/030207/letters_20070302003.shtml
Don’t you just love it when someone opens mouth and
inserts foot proving the major points of your letter to the
editor? I thank you, Scott Thorson of Truth About Pebble (TAP),
for making me look good in your Feb. 20 Voices of the State
tirade. What we got from you was more misinformation and less
truth along with a litany denigrating opponents of the Pebble
Mine.
Scott, you claim all the big decisions have not been made,
but nearly all businesses design projects from the top down.
In the truth submitted to the Alaska Department of Natural
Resources, the design for the Pebble project is down to the
actual process of construction and bottom components of the
waste pit dams. The biggies have been made by Northern Dynasty.
They are on file!
The only thing left is to con Alaskans into believing the
short-term greed of the few outweighs the long-term needs
of hundreds of future generations of Alaskans. (Thanks, Mr.
Spock.) I guess this is where “Truth” about Pebble
comes in. It seems that the TAP people are devotees of that
Alaska columnist’s motto: “The truth is so limiting!”
Maybe your excessive use of the ellipsis indicates a lot of
truth left out ... like who will be responsible should the
project go belly up or when the mine plays out.
I’ve been to the top of the Space Needle, so I can attest
it is quite high, but I cannot say if it as high as the proposed
waste pit dams. I do know that the documents on file with
the state call for dams to be built to heights of 700, 710
and 740 feet as production at the mine proceeds.
Scott, maybe you should read the documents on file for the
project before you pontificate.
Do you think we’re stupid enough to believe TAP and
Northern Dynasty do not have a mob of lobbyists working Juneau,
too? We’ve seen the news reports.
You and TAP will get more respect if you stop treating us
like mushrooms. No matter how high you pile it, you cannot
fool all the people all the time. Thank you, Honest Abe.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commercial fish group wants salmon standard
out of regulations
The Associated Press
March 5, 2007
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - A commercial fishing group has proposed
repeal of the state's sustainable salmon fisheries regulation,
claiming that putting the policy on the books will attract
lawsuits and result in judges dictating fishery management
decisions.
To view article in its entirety, please click on
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/ap_alaska/story/8686263p-8583328c.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Effort hopes to net missing data on Alaska's
fishermen
By Laine Welch
Alaska Journal of Commerce
March 4, 2007
Alaska's seafood industry provides more jobs than oil and
gas, mining, agriculture and forestry combined. However, a
lack of harvesting labor data means there is no way to realistically
estimate the number of crew members who work in any given
community or census area.
To view article in its entirety, please click on
http://www.alaskajournal.com/stories/030407/fis_20070304027.shtml
Formosa Mine may be eligible for Superfund
ADAM PEARSON
The News Review
March 7, 2007
RIDDLE — Formosa Mine, the 76-acre site on Silver Butte
that releases contaminants into Cow Creek, has been proposed
for the Superfund National Priorities List by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency.
The federal government, through the Superfund program, cleans
uncontrolled, abandoned, illegally dumped or accidentally
spilled hazardous-waste sites that pose a threat to human
health or the environment.
To view article in its entirety, please click on
http://www.newsreview.info/article/20070307/NEWS/70307014
Fears for a Dam’s Safety Put Tourist Area
on Edge
By Ian Urbina
New York Times
March 4, 2007
BURKESVILLE, Ky. — Below the Wolf Creek Dam, which holds
back the biggest manmade lake east of the Mississippi, residents
joke that they are not worried about a breach but sleep in
life jackets, just in case.
To view article in its entirety, please click on
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/04/us/04dam.html?ex73675600&enÓ2a32804048e344&eiP70&emc=eta1
Gold tumbles to 6-week low
Analysts say the mineral no longer playing traditional role
as safe haven from equity markets; takes hit as global stock
indexes decline.
March 5 2007
LONDON (Reuters) -- Gold tumbled to its lowest in six weeks
on Monday as the carnage on equity markets infected sentiment
for the precious metal and investors sold to cover their losses,
analysts said.
South Africa's Anglogold Ashanti lost 4.2 percent and Australia's
Newcrest Mining was down 1.5 percent.
To view article in its entirety, please click on
http://money.cnn.com/2007/03/05/markets/bc.markets.precious.europe.reut/index.htm?section=money_email_alerts
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