Renewable Resources Coalition - Weekly News Update

Update on HB 134

HB 134, creating special prohibitions on water use in the Bristol Bay watershed, was brought up in committee to announce that House Fisheries, in conjunction with House Resources, will be holding hearings on the bill this fall around the Bristol Bay area. The exact schedule and location for these hearings is still being formulated and will be announced at a later date.

Chefs lobby D.C. to save wild salmon
A national campaign calls on Congress to pass legislation to restore river habitats and tear down dams along the Pacific coast.
By Margot Roosevelt
Los Angeles Times
May 8, 2007

A national consumer campaign to save wild salmon will launch in Washington today, as about 200 chefs from restaurants in 33 states call on Congress to pass laws to restore river habitats and tear down massive hydroelectric dams that have decimated salmon species along the Pacific coast.

To view article in its entirety, please click on

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-me-salmon8may08,1,4513145.story?track=rss

Anti-Pebble activists try new ploy
Voice of the Times
Anchorage Daily News
May 6, 2007

The Pebble mineral prospect is one of the most promising developments in Alaska’s mining industry in many years, but its operators are facing strong opposition led by a small group of area lodge owners.

The Pebble opponents have been spending heavily on a television advertising campaign aimed at raising alarm about potential impacts on water quality. Such concerns should be taken seriously since harsh chemicals can be generated by gold mining, but vigilance by both the operators and state regulators can be effective in reducing risk to very low levels, as has been the case in other parts of the state.

To view article in its entirety, please click on

http://www.adn.com/opinion/voice/story/8860328p-8760895c.html

Correction

Posted May 9, 2007

http://www.adn.com/opinion/voice/story/8866978p-8767670c.html

In Sunday’s editorial about activist attempts to block development of the Pebble mineral prospect, we were incorrect in saying most streams crossing the prospect ultimately drain into Cook Inlet.

All of the waters crossing the Pebble site drain into either the Kvichak or the Nushagak rivers, both of which feed into salmon-rich Bristol Bay.

Feed Your Head
Alice Waters leads 200-chef brigade to protect wild salmon
Daily Grist
May 5, 2007

Led by celebri-chef Alice Waters, some 200 chefs in 33 states are calling on Congress to protect river habitats and deprioritize hydroelectric dams that cramp Northwest salmon's style. "Wild salmon is one of the unique, authentic heritage foods of the Pacific Northwest," reads a letter that the cooking coalition presented to legislators yesterday. "It represents perhaps our country's last great wild meal." The "Vote With Your Fork" campaign hopes to focus attention -- both public and congressional -- on the controversial dams that have gummed up the Northwest's Klamath and Snake rivers, and on Alaska's Bristol Bay, where a proposed humongous gold and copper mine threatens a plentiful fishery. Because when it comes to salmon, the nation's best chefs turn up their noses at antibiotic-ridden, pellet-eating, oft-parasite-infested farmed fish. Besides, as Waters says, "Eating wild salmon can connect you in a beautiful way to the sea." We couldn't have said it beautifuler.

http://www.grist.org/news/daily/2007/05/10/5/

Northern Dynasty Minerals: The Future is on Its Side
Josh Corn
Seeking Alpha
May 2, 2007

Northern Dynasty Minerals (NAK) is a Canadian mineral exploration company primarily focused on its Pebble Mine in Alaska. It currently has a 100% stake in the mine. The Pebble Mine in Alaska is regarded as a “world class mine” of gold-copper-molybdenum that is split up into Pebble East and Pebble West. For this article, we will disregard the whole Pebble West Mine and focus on the Pebble East Mine.

To view article in its entirety, please click on

http://gold.seekingalpha.com/article/34224

Salmon to start running
Poll peek
By Laine Welch
Homer Tribune
May 2, 2007

Protecting salmon outscored open pit mining by a wide margin in a new poll that also found Alaskans don’t want cuts to the state Fish and Game budget.
Lawmakers are working well together and better than in past years, said 68 percent of 410 respondents who participated in an Alaskan Public Leadership and Legislative Overview survey prepared for the state senate by Dittman Research.

To view article in its entirety, please click on

http://www.homertribune.com/article.php?aid=1581

Letters to the Editor

Pebble mine may damage tourism and Alaska's largest salmon fishery
Justine Deleon – Anchorage
Anchorage Daily News
May 17, 2007

http://www.adn.com/opinion/letters/story/8892570p-8792682c.html

While construction of Pebble mine might potentially be an economic advantage, it might also damage the largest salmon fishery in Alaska and other wildlife. First of all, it could devastate a major fishing spot in Bristol Bay, which earns tens of millions of dollars annually. The prospective mine dam would be taller than the Hoover Dam, and sit on an active earthquake area. If it were to crack, the toxic mine waste would filter into surrounding rivers and streams; the animals would perish along with the environment.

Anglers from all over the world travel to Alaska to experience the rush of catching a salmon. Without tourists, the state will suffer financially. Subsistence hunters and fishermen will have nothing to live on if the rivers are contaminated.

Will earning a little cash really be worth it in the expense of our state?

**********************

Fort Knox Mine leaks cyanide, as reported last week by the Anchorage Daily News. Red Dog mine is the biggest Environmental Protection Agency hazard in the United States, as it expends the most airborne debris of all mines nationally. Head down to Montana, question residents that live near closed mines about what they think of mining and the resultant polluting of their rivers. Research mining worldwide on the Internet and I guarantee you’ll get sick to your stomach. The Pebble Mine should never be allowed to be permitted, as we can’t risk the true Bristol Bay gold — the sockeye salmon industry.

I really don’t care what former Speaker of the House Gail Phillips (the paid mining lobbyist and how much is she getting paid?) has to say or what any poll concludes, allowing the Pebble Mine is like asking Satan to step into the sandals of Jesus Christ. I have a feeling that Jay Hammond is rolling rocks down from heaven on the heads of those who would take a chance of contaminating one glass of water or one sockeye/trout in the Bristol Bay region.

Subsistence hunting/fishing are highest on the priority list in this state and we can never take the chance of losing one animal to contamination. Sport and commercial fishing are second on the list, as they provide income to residents and tax dollars to our state coffers. These renewable resources will be here forever if we protect them for future generations.

I’m a drift-netter in the Bay, and I enjoy feeding the world. I like my sockeye fillet barbecued or baked, but I can do without the arsenic or cyanide seasoning that Northern Dynasty might serve up with a mine.

Wild Alaska salmon to fuel six of America's top athletes
By Margaret Bauman
Alaska Journal of Commerce
May 13, 2007

Two Kodiak entrepreneurs determined to boost national sales of their wild Alaska salmon jerky are working with six world-class athletes who now include Kodiak Solstix in their training diets.

Mark Witteveen and Rob Baer of Alaska Spirit, which manufactures salmon jerky from wild Alaska pink salmon, said April 25 that they are donating Solstix to athletes Apolo Anton Ohno, Dane Ferguson, Giddeon Massie, Allison Baver, Mike Mannelin and Wayne Johnsen.

Berners Bay looked like a circus last weekend.Instead of a big top and grandstands, we had mist-shrouded mountains and sunlight cutting through rain. Our fireworks were streaks of black and white: dive-bombing arctic terns, mew gulls, squadrons of scoters.

Alaska native organization supports Hinchey effort to protect their fishery, culture and way of life
Empire State News
May 12, 2007

The Bristol Bay Native Association, an Alaska Native consortium of 30 tribes in the Bristol Bay area of Alaska, supports Rep. Maurice Hinchey's (D-NY) efforts to protect their fisheries, culture and way of life, the organization said Friday. “As concerned residents of Alaska, we support Rep. Hinchey's legislation to reinstate the congressional Bristol Bay offshore drilling moratorium,” the group said in a prepared statement. “BBNA as well as many Alaska Native people and residents of Bristol Bay also support Congressman Hinchey's efforts to reinstate the ban through a measure in an upcoming appropriations bill.

Senators introduce fishing subsidies resolution
By: The Bristol Bay Times Staff
Bristol Bay Times
May 10, 2007

Sen. Ted Stevens has introduced a Senate resolution urging an end the subsidies that many foreign governments grant their fishing industries. His fellow Alaska Republican, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, is a co-sponsor of the measure.

Kerry Plan Would Save Bristol Bay from Oil Drilling
Posted by Pamela Leavey
The Democratic Daily
May 7th, 2007

John Kerry introduced the Bristol Bay Protection Act on Monday, which will permanently prohibit oil and gas drilling in Alaska’s Bristol Bay. Bristol Bay is north of the Alaskan peninsula.

The North Aleutian Basin Planning Area in Bristol Bay has been banned from drilling under the Congressional Moratorium, but last week, the Bush Administration announced plans to lift the ban and begin drilling there starting in July. Kerry’s bill would ban all drilling in Bristol Bay.

Facing pressure, mining firm drops Chickaloon coal leases
By Margaret Bauman
Alaska Journal of Commerce
May 6, 2007

A Canadian mining company has opted to surrender its rights to explore for coal in the Chickaloon area of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough.

The plan by Full Metal Minerals Ltd. to mine coal on Alaska Mental Health Trust land was scrapped in the face of community opposition and geological problems, a spokesman said April 26.

State fisheries officials say a survey of fish processors in Alaska shows that salmon purchasing and processing capacity for the 2007 season is expected to exceed projected statewide harvests of all species.

The announcement from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game said its recent survey concluded that purchasing and processing capacity would exceed the projected statewide harvests of sockeye, pink and coho salmon in most areas of the state. Bristol Bay, Prince William Sound, Southeast/Yakutat, and Kodiak should have more than enough capacity to process the large harvests forecast in those areas, officials said.

House committee supports Coeur's Kensington plan
Lawmakers urge company to pursue all legal options
By BRITTANY RETHERFORD
JUNEAU EMPIRE
May 1, 2007

The House Resources Committee passed a resolution Monday supporting Coeur Alaska's tailings plan for the Kensington Mine north of Juneau, encouraging an appeal to the nation's highest court if need be.

To chefs, future of wild salmon reaches fork in the road
CONGRESS: Cooks want dams breached to restore historic runs.
By LES BLUMENTHAL
McClatchy Newspapers, via Anchorage Daily News
May 17, 2007

WASHINGTON -- You can grill it, broil it, bake it, poach it, barbecue it, smoke it, turn it into croquettes or serve it raw as sushi, with lemon and butter, in a cranberry reduction sauce, with fennel or dill or garlic mashed potatoes.

U.S. loans for coal plants clash with carbon cuts
Federal effort comes in conflict with move to limit greenhouse gases
By Steven Mufson
Washington Post
May 14, 2007

A Depression-era program to bring electricity to rural areas is using taxpayer money to provide billions of dollars in low-interest loans to build coal plants even as Congress seeks ways to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

That government support is a major force behind the rush to coal plants, which spew carbon dioxide that scientists blame for global warming.

Mining Law a Dilemma for Sen. Harry Reid
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Faces Political Crosscurrents in Mining Law Rewrite
By ERICA WERNER
Associated Press Writer
ABC News
May 10, 2007

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, a gold miner's son from the top gold-producing state in the nation, is confronting competing political interests as House Democrats prepare to rewrite an antiquated hard-rock mining law.

Farmed fish given meal tainted with melamine
Not clear if contaminated fish entered the human food supply
Associated Press
MSNBC
May 8, 2007

WASHINGTON - Farmed fish have been fed meal spiked with the same chemical that has been linked to the pet food recall, but the contamination was probably too low to harm anyone who ate the fish, federal officials said Tuesday.

Commentary: Mining Law of 1872 no longer applies to today's world
Mike Kowalski
Las Vegas Sun
May 7, 2007

This Thursday marks the 135th anniversary of the Mining Law of 1872, providing an opportunity to reflect on the past, present and prospects for hard rock mining in America. As an industry, jewelry uses more than four of every five ounces of gold mined today, so we have a substantial stake in the Mining Law reform debate, which is beginning to take shape in the U.S. Congress.

Mining giant Rio Tinto says it has had mixed success in meeting environmental targets for its Queensland coal mines.

The mining company has released a sustainable development report in which it measured its performance against a number of targets.

Staff Editorial: ‘Round and round we go in the sustainable energy debate
By Amy Korst, Sarah Jeglum, Hanady Kader and Andrew Brown
The Daily Opinion – Washington
May 3, 2007

As it has become increasingly apparent that foreign oil will not be able to sustain domestic energy consumption in the future, scientists and foresighted politicians alike have scrambled to find viable alternatives.

Scientists have pointed to clean and renewable energy sources like bio-fuel and wind power as our best hope for environmentally safe and feasible energy production. Politicians and even celebrities have advocated reduced personal energy consumption and waste as a means of alleviating the power crunch.

'Safe' heavy metals hit fish senses
Aria Pearson
NewScientist.com news service
April 9, 2007

Pollution far below the level seen as dangerous for aquatic life has nevertheless dramatically altered animal behaviour in North American lakes. Heavy metals are knocking out the sense of smell in organisms from bacteria to fish. Even we may not be immune.