TODAY’S TOP STORY
Mine opponent challenges project
BY MICHAEL ARMSTRONG
STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
http://www.homernews.com/stories/012407/news_1_7002.shtml
Is it too soon to judge Northern Dynasty’s Pebble
Mine project?
When Sean Magee, vice president of public affairs for
Northern Dynasty, spoke in Homer last month about the
proposed mine, he asked for a fair hearing. Don’t
form an opinion until Northern Dynasty finishes its studies,
drafts its final plan and files for state and federal
permits, he said.
Tuesday night, Scott Brennan, a speaker for the Renewable
Resources Coalition — the main organization opposing
the Pebble Mine project — challenged that position
with an audience participation exercise. He asked the
group of about 60 people at the Alaska Islands and Ocean
Visitor Center if they had formed an opinion about oil
and gas development in the coastal plain of the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge or building a natural gas pipeline.
Most of the people raised their hands.
“We know more about Pebble than these projects,”
Brennan said. “Shame on all of you for jumping to
conclusions…”
To view the full story, please click on
http://www.homernews.com/stories/012407/news_1_7002.shtml
Ad campaign seeks boycott of Pebble gold
JEWELRY: Manufacturers are asked not to support the proposed
mine.
By MARY PEMBERTON
The Associated Press
Published: January 4, 2007
Anchorage Daily News
Jewelers are being asked to boycott gold from a huge,
open-pit mine proposed for Alaska that many Alaska Natives
fear will ruin their way of life.
To view the full story, please click on
http://www.adn.com/money/story/8538206p-8432010c.html
Ad Campaign Asks Jewelers to Help Protect Alaskan
Fisheries from Mining
January 4, '07
International Diamond Exchange
By Signe Katz
A new ad campaign asks jewelry retailers to boycott a
proposed open pit gold mine in Alaska, the Pebble Mine
project in the Bristol Bay watershed. The campaign was
launched this week in National Jeweler Magazine. Alaskan
natives have said that the mine will destroy their way
of life which is based on fishing. The watershed is home
to the largest sockeye salmon fishery in the world.
To view the full story, please click on
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullNews.asp?id=26803
Northern Dynasty opposes efforts to link mine tax
PEBBLE: Increase isn't a big concern yet, company official
says.
By ELIZABETH BLUEMINK
Anchorage Daily News
Published: January 5, 2007
The company seeking to develop the controversial Pebble
mineral prospect in Southwest Alaska is upset about efforts
to link new mining taxes across Alaska to its project.
To view the full story, please click on
http://www.adn.com/front/story/8540338p-8434088c.html
Opinion on state’s liability in Pebble project
draws fire
January 3, 2007
By Margaret Bauman
MORRIS NEWS SERVICE - ALASKA
Developers who hope to build a massive copper-gold-molybdenum
mine north of Iliamna Lake in Southwest Alaska continue
to pour millions of dollars into the project as protests
mount over environmental safety issues.
As 2006 drew to a close, Northern Dynasty had invested
$126 million into its Pebble exploration project. Bruce
Jenkins, chief operating officer for the Canadian mining
firm, said he anticipates the company will spend another
$30 million to $45 million in 2007.
To view the full story, please click on
http://www.homernews.com/stories/010307/news_4b002.shtml
A Sight for Soar Eyes
John Amos, eco-geographer and head of nonprofit SkyTruth,
answers questions
Grist.org
January 8, 2007
“…the best moment was when a community organizer
told me that SkyTruth images of the proposed Pebble gold
mine changed the minds of a dozen Native Alaskan community
leaders from being pro-mining to being uniformly opposed.”
To view the full story, please click on http://www.grist.org/comments/interactivist/2007/01/08/amos/
Kensington / Jualin / Lower Slate Lake – To view
Google Earth images of the Kensington Mine and proposed
Jualin Mine site in southeast Alaska, visit:
http://skytruth.mediatools.org/objects/view.acs?object_id=10384
And check out SkyTruth’s static image gallery here:
http://skytruth.mediatools.org/objects/view.acs?object_id=5948
Bush lifts ban on oil drilling in Alaska fishery
Bristol Bay is world's most productive wild salmon area
Jan 10, 2007
WASHINGTON - President Bush lifted a ban Tuesday on oil
and gas drilling in Alaska's Bristol Bay, an area known
for its endangered whales and the world's largest run
of sockeye salmon.
To view the full story, please click on
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16545911/
Review of the Earthworks Mining Water Quality Study
What it means for the Pebble Mine project
Of the mines in this study with similar characteristics
to Pebble, 100% of them contaminated nearby waters
To view the full story, please click on
http://www.aktrekking.com/pebble/news/WaterQualityStudy.html
New Pebble Mine entry in Wikipedia
To view the entry, please click on
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pebble_Mine
Wyoming game wardens see increase in poaching in energy
patch
By BOB MOEN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
January 5, 2007
GREEN RIVER, WY -- State game warden Dave Hays longs
for the good ol' days
on the job.
"We used to have slow months; I can't remember when,"
Hays, a 25-year
veteran of the state Game and Fish Department, said as
the seemingly endless
sagebrush-covered hills and valleys passed outside the
windows of his dark
green agency pickup.
To view the full story, please click on
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6600AP_WST_Energy_Patch_Poaching.html?rand=44055.67
Ready to swim in sulfuric acid? I
couldn’t imagine that the state would risk a major
environmental disaster for a few temporary jobs.
by Jack Lessenberry
Metro Times Detroit
January 17, 2007
Kennecott Minerals Co., a huge multinational firm based
in Utah, whose parent company is in England, wants to
dig a highly dangerous nickel and copper mine underneath
an environmentally sensitive trout stream in Michigan.
This is off in the Upper Peninsula, in a picturesque
part of Marquette County called the Yellow Dog Plains,
where there are more deer and bear and, well, trout, than
people. As a matter of fact, the stream is the only place
in the state where the coaster brook trout, a rare and
colorful fish, still breeds.
To view the full story, please click on
http://www.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=10072
Report: Selenium imperils area trout
Levels high in fish from two watersheds
By John O'Connell Journal writer
Idaho State Journal
January 12, 2007
POCATELLO - Two of the top strongholds of Yellowstone
cutthroat trout
are imperiled by selenium contamination from phosphate
mining, a new report
by two Idaho State University researchers concludes.
The new data, released Thursday afternoon, warns trout
populations in
many streams within the Blackfoot and Salt River watersheds
may already be
declining.
To view the full story, please click on
http://www.idahostatejournal.com/articles/2007/01/11/news/local/news02.txt
Wild trek set for Seattle couple
In June, they'll begin a 4,000-mile journey, hiking, rafting
and skiing from here to Alaska's Aleutian Islands
By COLIN McDONALD
P-I REPORTER
January 17, 2007
It's important to test gear and be prepared, Erin McKittrick
says -- moments before capsizing her 4-foot inflatable
raft on Lake Union.
She is wearing a life jacket made from an old sleeping
pad and an assortment of clothing that will not keep her
dry or warm once she is in the water. The air temperature
is below freezing. With a shrug of her shoulders, she
flops over the side.
To view the full story, please click on
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/300005_wildride17.html
DISPATCH FROM A SUPERFUND SITE
A Tainted Mining Town Dies as Residents Are Paid to Leave
Kids in Picher, Okla., Are Exposed to Lead, And the Ground
Is at Risk of Cave-Ins
By Matthew C. Wright
Special to The Washington Post
Thursday, January 18, 2007; Page A12
PICHER, Okla. -- As they do almost every day, a few men
gather at a folding
table in the back of the Picher Express, the last gas
station in this
onetime mining boomtown. Conversation inevitably turns
to the arrival of the
appraisers, sent by the federal government as part of
a voluntary buyout
that will, in essence, mean the end of this city.
To view the full story, please click on
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/12/AR2007011201692.html
Pebble Mine debate escalates
by Angela Unruh
KTUU Television
Thursday, Jan. 18, 2007
Anchorage, Alaska - The debate concerning the Pebble Mine
project, which could become one of the country's largest
open pit mines, is heating up.
Television and newspaper ads opposing the Bristol Bay
Pebble Mine project have been airing for months. This
morning, it was announced that a new non-profit group
has formed in support of the gold and copper mine.
To view the full story, please click on
http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?S=5960271
Pebble prospect may have a mascot
NONPROFIT: Project's supporters launch campaign to defend
its rights.
By ELIZABETH BLUEMINK
Anchorage Daily News
Published: January 19, 2007
The massive Pebble copper and gold prospect in Southwest
Alaska has a new ally: Pebble Man.
A new business-supported nonprofit called Truth About
Pebble will defend the controversial exploration project's
rights to a "full and impartial hearing," the
group's directors said Thursday.
To view the full story, please click on
http://www.adn.com/money/industries/mining/story/8573412p-8466574c.html
Pebble Mine threatens all Alaskans
Points of view from the community
Anchorage Daily News
By ART HACKNEY
Published: January 18, 2007
I have the highest regard for former Speaker of the House
Gail Phillips, and I understand her desire to stand up
for Pebble Mine, as she is personally deeply rooted in
Alaska's rich mining history.
Reasonable people can disagree, but my friend Gail is
mistaken on a number of points in her Jan. 3 Compass piece.
To view the full story, please click on
http://www.adn.com/opinion/compass/story/8571599p-8465216c.html
Brazil bauxite mine closed after dam burst
January 10, 2007
Reuters
RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Minas Gerais state
government halted production at Mineracao Rio Pomba Cataguases'
bauxite mine at Mirai after a rejects dam burst early
on Wednesday, said a state environmental agency (Feam)
spokesman.
Mineracao Rio Pomba Cataguases, one Brazil's two refractory
bauxite producers, is owned by industrial group Industrias
Quimicas Cataguases. It produces 1.15 million tonnes a
year of refractory bauxite, used by water and other industries.
To view the full story, please click on
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=N10315283&WTmodLoc=WorldR5-Alertnet-4
Anti-Pebble Mine group speaker to challenge Northern
Dynasty
BY MICHAEL ARMSTRONG
STAFF WRITER
January 17, 2007
From Juneau to Iliamna, both sides of the Pebble Mine
issue have been making their case to any group who will
listen. Next week, the opponents of the mine give their
persective. Scott Brennan, chief operating officer of
the Renewable Resources Coalition, Anchorage, gives a
Pebble Mine update from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Jan. 23 at the
Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitor Center.
To view the full story, please click on
http://www.homernews.com/stories/011707/news_3001.shtml
Pebble can be another Alaska resource development
success
Published January 21, 2007
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
Richard Cattanach
Alaska is a resource development state. Whether fish,
minerals, oil and gas, or timber, resource development
has driven Alaska’s economy for generations. We’ve
developed our oil and gas resources in Cook Inlet while
protecting valuable sport and commercial fisheries. We
are world-renowned for fisheries management. And we’ve
seen mining success stories all over Alaska, where mines
are developed and operated to the highest environmental
standards.
To view the full story, please click on
http://newsminer.com/2007/01/21/4623/
My Turn: Coeur Alaska gambles with jobs
Proposal to dump mine waste into a lake risky for people,
environment
By Anissa Berry-Frick
Juneau Empire
January 21, 2007
The members of Southeast Alaska Conservation Council's
Board of Directors understand and appreciate the importance
of jobs to Alaskan families and communities because we
live and work here ourselves. For 35 years, SEACC has
been run by a volunteer board of Southeast Alaskans who
have donated countless hours of their own time to safeguarding
the integrity of Southeast Alaska's unsurpassed natural
environment while encouraging the balanced and sustainable
use of the region's resources.
To view the full story, please click on
http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/012107/opi_20070121003.shtml
The proposed Pebble mine puts people, fish and wildlife
at risk
Anchorage Daily News, Letter to the Editor
January 6, 2007
http://www.adn.com/opinion/letters/story/8541980p-8435684c.html
Can Alaska be so generous as to give our state's mineral
wealth to Canadian investors when it belongs to America?
What will the Canadian company, Northern Dynasty, and
its proposed Pebble mine do for Alaska, the Nushagak River
inhabitants and ecology? What will the mine do to the
wildlife, fish and ecology of the proposed Jay Hammond
Wildlife Refuge?
Bristol Bay has more people, fish, wildlife and jobs,
and is more accessible than the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge, yet how do we get people's attention to this fact?
Nushagak River pollution could kill people, kill the largest
salmon fishery in the world, and kill the animals that
live off the habitat from the headwaters to the ocean.
We can't leave these issues to those with a vested interest
to decide for us. Jobs are important, but saving people
and a rich renewable food source from pollution, needs
our best look.
-- Mike Sparks
Bristol Bay store owner and former commercial fisherman
Wasilla
History shows mining companies can't be trusted to
clean up mess
Anchorage Daily News, Letter to the Editor
January 4, 2007
http://www.adn.com/opinion/letters/story/8538196p-8432004c.html
The Lake Iliamna region is not the right place for industrial-scale
mining. The risks to Bristol Bay's lucrative fisheries,
the local food supply and the tourism industry are too
great.
Clean mining is not impossible; however, it's often unprofitable.
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jared Diamond points out
in his excellent book "Collapse: How Societies Choose
to Fail or Succeed" that the combined market capitalization
for all U.S. mining companies falls far below what it
would cost to clean up all the pollution for which they
are responsible.
Mining companies generally deal with major pollution
in two ways: They deny it exists or that it was caused
by them, or they declare bankruptcy.
When major pollution occurs, the remediation bonds that
the companies have put up are never sufficient to cover
the costs of the perpetual monitoring and cleanup that
become necessary. The taxpayers get stuck with the bill.
Infrastructure development should not be used as a reason
to support mining. Take downtown Butte, Mont., as an example.
The buildings, which mining dollars built, are crumbling;
the region is very depressed economically; and the residents
are left with the nation's largest Superfund cleanup site
in their backyard.
Why trust to good engineering, good management, good
weather, favorable seismic conditions and good luck that
these mining operations will never have disastrous accidents?
---- Ben Nygren
Dillingham
If Pebble is so rich, let the company pay extra cost
of a clean operation
Anchorage Daily News, Letter to the Editor
January 3, 2007
http://www.adn.com/opinion/letters/story/8536154p-8430046c.html
Don't fall for those ads promoting the Pebble mine. The
same industry that brought us the Red Dog mine now wants
to repeat the favor by building the Pebble mine at the
headwaters of the richest fishery on the planet.
It will be an open-pit mine like the one at Red Dog.
Years ago I observed a white metallic sheen on the tundra
at Red Dog caused by ore blowing off uncovered trucks.
The mining company saved a few dollars by not covering
its vehicles. Subsequent drinking water violations in
Kivalina attest to the mining company's lack of concern
for the environment. The Canadian company promoting Pebble
wants us to believe that its process for Pebble is environmentally
safe. If these claims are true, here is my suggestion:
1) Take the ore without disturbing the surface or using
water; 2) ship the extracted ore to Canada; 3) Convince
the Canadians that the arsenic, mercury and other heavy
metals used in the refining process are safe for Canadian
fish and water resources. Because the mine is so rich
and the potential profit so great, the added costs should
not be a problem.
---- Mike O'Hara
Anchorage
It's a sad day for Alaska when money is all that counts
Anchorage Daily News, Letter to the Editor
January 2, 2007
http://www.adn.com/opinion/letters/story/8534192p-8428113c.html
I am so glad there are discussions about a fish refuge
to save our land from foreign developers, i.e. Northern
Dynasty at the Pebble mine ("Both sides laud decision
on fish refuge," Dec. 12).
I live in Nondalton, the village nearest the proposed
mine site. I chose to live here because of the lifestyle.
I enjoy living on a lake between Lake Clark and Lake Iliamna
surrounded by mountains, glaciers and quietness. Now some
people want to take that away from me and those whose
families go back for generations just for the sake of
greed for money. Have we come to the point where we are
pitting Alaskans, friends and families against each other
for money? Has the value of our land and resources that
has sustained us for thousands of years become so insignificant
that we don't care what we build on it or put into it
as long as we get money for it? Yes, this is what it all
boils down to: How much money we can get out of it.
There was a time when people left a life they disliked
and came to Alaska to be free, to be their own person
and enjoy what makes them happy. Alaska was that place
where they could build a cabin and enjoy simplicity and
freedom. Please, give us the real Alaska back and make
it the Last Frontier again.
---- John Weidman
Nondalton
Reader asks: Water or air?
Letter to the Editor
Peninsula Clarion
January 4, 2007
http://www.peninsulaclarion.com/stories/010407/letters_20070104006.shtml
Coal, Pebbles and Clear Skies. In case you have not been
watching, plans are in the making for a major change in
local electrical economics. The entire consumption of
electrical power on the Kenai provided by HEA is just
under 80 megawatts. The coal fired project starting up
for the Pebbles Mine will be around 450 megawatts of generation.
The coal gasification will also set the economic anchor
that keeps Agrium solvent and providing jobs on the peninsula.
Clean coal technology has been around a while and from
the acid rain perspective is quite efficient; but I hope
you like that clean burnt coal scent, because it will
be everywhere in the Cook Inlet Basin from now on.
Talk of wind and alternative sources have never hit the
mark of meeting high demands. There is a lake that is
absolutely perfect for hydro power on the west side of
the inlet close to existing power lines.
The Chakachamna, like Bradley Lake, is a high mountain
glacial-fed lake perfect for hydro so greenies might squeal,
but it’s that or coal. Maybe we should ask former
President Jimmy Carter if it would be OK to make a little
of the Lake Clark Wilderness wet and save the fresh air.
Dennis Barnard
Kenai
Northern Dynasty had yet to decide stand on taxes;
headline was wrong
Anchorage Daily News, Letter to the Editor
January 21, 2006
I am writing to correct a headline that appeared in the
Anchorage Daily News Jan. 5: "Northern Dynasty opposes
mine tax."
At the time of writing, there was no draft legislation
regarding mining taxes for our company to oppose. If such
legislation is introduced in the future, Northern Dynasty
will evaluate it and consider its position at that time.
Frankly, at this early stage of the Pebble project, taxes
are not our primary concern. We're spending all our time,
and millions of dollars each year, conducting environmental
and technical studies to develop a mine plan for Pebble
that will protect Bristol Bay fish, water and wildlife
while generating high-wage jobs and investment for generations
of Alaskans.
What we do oppose are the tactics of Pebble opponents
like Bob Gillam's Renewable Resources Coalition. That
these individuals would propose legislation that could
harm an entire industry, dozens of Alaska companies and
thousands of workers simply to advance their campaign
against a single project and deny it a fair process under
established Alaska law is shameful.
---- Sean Magee, vice president, public affairs
Northern Dynasty Mines Inc.
Vancouver, British Columbia
Pebble gold boycott call amazing as production won't
start till 2011
Anchorage Daily News, Letter to the Editor
January 16, 2007
http://www.adn.com/opinion/letters/story/8566477p-8460068c.html
I am dismayed at the advertisements being placed in National
Jeweler magazine by Earthworks, urging jewelers to boycott
gold from the Pebble mine ("Ad campaign seeks boycott
of Pebble gold," Jan. 4). It's amazing to me that
advertising is being placed against a project that won't
even begin the permitting process until 2008, and if the
dozens of permits are approved, won't likely begin production
until 2011 or beyond.
I have been watching this debate over the Pebble project
unfold for the past year, and I would like to urge my
fellow Alaskans to give this project a fair hearing. Right
now, we don't know what the mine will look like since
it's still being delineated and the development plan is
being put together.
There are local, state and federal processes that must
be followed before any developer of any project in Alaska
can move forward.
Let's take a step back and sift through all the emotion
being generated by those who want to deny this project
a fair process.
The immediate victims of this aggressive attack against
mining are the mom-and-pop miners struggling to make a
living while following all permits and processes. Alaska
was established by the hard-working miner of the Klondike,
not the wealthy Anchorage resident who wants to preserve
his own private lodge.
---- Toni Logan Goodrich
Gold refiner
Anchorage
Alaska should create fish refuge, require water monitoring
of mining
Anchorage Daily News, Letter to the Editor
January 16, 2007
http://www.adn.com/opinion/letters/story/8566477p-8460068c.html
Other states have decided they cannot afford to wait
for Congress to do right by them by amending the archaic
1872 mining law and amending the North American Free Trade
Agreement Chapter 11 (which protects foreign companies
when doing business in the United States). They have taken
it upon themselves to implement new laws to protect their
states from damages caused by mining.
Some examples:
The mining company must submit documentation from groundwater
and surface water monitoring showing:
1. A mine that has operated for 10 years without polluting
groundwater or surface water from acid drainage at the
tailings site or at the mine site or from the release
of heavy metals; and
2. A mine that has been closed for 10 years without the
same kind of pollution.
If the examples above and the fish refuge that has been
proposed in the Bristol Bay are implemented, Alaska will
be heading in the right direction. If Northern Dynasty
has truly spent more than $50 million on environmental
studies, and they believe their propaganda wholeheartedly,
then why would the fish refuge proposal worry them?
---- Saundra Fletcher
Anchorage
Palin needs to think twice about rubber-stamping Pebble
project
Anchorage Daily News, Letter to the Editor
January 13, 2007
http://www.adn.com/opinion/letters/story/8558208p-8451740c.html
It is encouraging that Gov. Sarah Palin has taken an
active role in opening dialogue in the Bristol Bay watershed
with the village of New Stuyahok over the economic struggles
the region faces and difficulties with alcohol that are
endemic of many rural Alaska villages ("Palin listens
to villagers about their concerns," Jan. 3). However,
I hope that she does not try to push the Pebble mine as
a magic-bullet solution to either of these chronic problems.
According to a November report by the Goldwater Institute,
poverty in Alaska climbed 4.4 percent and childhood poverty
rates increased 7.1 percent, all while per capita state
spending was the highest and the tax burden was the lowest.
While the mine could potentially offer jobs, Palin needs
to remember that big projects don't necessarily mean big
payoffs for all Alaskans. If she is truly interested in
being the face of change, she should start with how state
policies on health, education and law enforcement affect
rural Alaska.
---- Jedediah R. Smith
Fairbanks
All Pebble mine project would do is shortchange future
generations
Anchorage Daily News, Letter to the Editor
January 13, 2007
http://www.adn.com/opinion/letters/story/8558208p-8451740c.html
If you dug an open-pit mine in the middle of some remote
desert, nobody would probably notice. But to dig a mine
in one of the crown-jewel spots left on Earth, you have
to know people will notice. And why would we allow this
to happen? So a foreign mining company can come here,
take our gold and leave us with a giant hole in the ground,
potentially leaking poison into our waters, risking the
health of our fish stocks and eventually ourselves. And
if said mine turns out to be the disaster it has the potential
to be, what would the reaction of this mining company
be? That we should have known better than to allow them
to do this?
Any person living in the Bristol Bay area should be opposed
to the Pebble mine proposal because any profitable gains
at the risk of your future generations' health is shortsighted
at best, but more like being selfish. What would you tell
your grandchildren when they can't drink the water or
eat the fish -- that you made some money? Mankind has
cleared, dug, drilled, blasted, raped and butchered a
lot of old Mother Earth, and we probably won't ever stop.
But of all the places worth consideration of setting aside,
Bristol Bay is one of the very best at the top of the
list.
---- Joe Reza
Anchorage
In pushing for Pebble mine, Phillips ignores possible
devastating effects
Anchorage Daily News, Letter to the Editor
January 12, 2007
http://www.adn.com/opinion/letters/story/8556489p-8450041c.html
How sad that a former speaker of the Alaska House of
Representatives, Gail Phillips, is willing to compromise
the future of such a large part of her state, the Bristol
Bay region, by making such a biased argument for the Pebble
mine project and against protecting fish ("Follow
established process for Pebble," Jan. 3). What is
her interest?
What could be more sensible than to protect Bristol Bay's
current assets by putting in place a refuge for its valuable
fish? These current economic foundations of Bristol Bay
are renewable and can continue to play important roles
long after the Canadian company has abandoned its mammoth
scars on the earth, left its rubbish, poisoned the land
with its cyanide and given back to Alaska precious little
in return as it hauls loot off to foreign lands for processing.
Why would they care? They are Canadians.
Perhaps Ms. Phillips could benefit by reading the devastating
accounts of every major gold mining operation around the
world, published in the New York Times last year, and
the irreparable damage they have done to the surroundings.
She might also like to see the recent account of one spill
from a Romanian gold mine, also owned by a Canadian company,
that poisoned hundreds of tons of fish in the Danube River
many miles away from the spill site.
Ms. Phillips insinuates that the permitting process is
being circumvented. Why? The process will go on as before.
Yes, it will have to deal with multiple protections Alaskans
put in place, sensibly, to save their most economically
important resources.
---- William Kent
Igiugig
Open-pit mining just doesn't mesh with the traditional
Alaska lifestyle
Anchorage Daily News, Letter to the Editor
January 12, 2007
http://www.adn.com/opinion/letters/story/8556489p-8450041c.html
I proudly wear a "No Pebble mine" pin on my
coat, and it occasionally elicits a comment or question.
I've gotten tired of spouting all the facts and figures
about the size of the proposed dam, toxic runoff or the
track record of foreign companies like Northern Dynasty
when people ask why I'm against the mine. I've now begun
telling them the simple reason why I'm opposed to Pebble
mine. It's because I love Alaska.
I moved here more than 20 years ago because of the lifestyle,
because of the unspoiled land and the opportunity to hunt
and fish in a place that is still pristine. Anyone familiar
with open-pit, hard-rock mining knows it is completely
incompatible with this lifestyle and threatens what for
so many of us is the very soul of our state. 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.
---- Dave Atcheson
Sterling
Pebble opponents resort to shock, but mine and fishery
are compatible
Anchorage Daily News, Letter to the Editor
January 11, 2007
http://www.adn.com/opinion/letters/story/8554113p-8447763c.html
Henny Penny, Henny Penny! Recent Pebble mine letters
have me shakin' in my bunny boots. Anti-Pebble shock tactics
have reached new dimensions of absurdity, but why stop
there? Consider the risk that hostile space aliens buried
long ago at Pebble will be unearthed, suck all the rivers
and streams dry, infect the fish, and screech as they
leap to latch onto the faces of local residents.
Sound farfetched? Not much more than the nightmare scenarios
Pebble naysayers are inventing. But you must agree, repeat
mine opponents, potential for harm exists and risks are
involved. In a world where scandal trumps substance, "potential
harm" and "risk" are default catchphrases
for anti-development environmentalists. Granted, they
are "real" as the above nightmare -- and my
5-year-old believes the animated movie "Cars"
is a true story. I'm no rocket surgeon, but maybe bad
dreams are the only alternative if you can't even consider
how the mine and fishery can coexist and thrive.
Naysayers will always be with us. Fortunately, constructive
and courageous plans continue for an ecologically responsible
mine that provides job choices for our children, investment
opportunities lasting far beyond the mine's life, and
needed infrastructure. That deserves our praise rather
than misleading shock-tactic prophecies of environmental
calamity.
---- Pete Johnson
Anchorage
Sustainable fishing in Bristol Bay is more valuable
than a gold mine
Anchorage Daily News, Letter to the Editor
January 11, 2007
http://www.adn.com/opinion/letters/story/8554113p-8447763c.html
Family mining businesses and jobs are to the proposed
Pebble mine what Naknek is to New York City.
Like Gail Phillips, I, too, am a gold miner's daughter
and have deepest admiration for the hard-working people
who raised their families while respecting nature's abundant
gifts ("Follow established process for Pebble,"
Jan. 3).
If my father had not also been a fisherman in Bristol
Bay, he, too, might have ignored concerns about the impacts
of deeply scarring nature's living crust while releasing
poisonous toxins into the landscape, rivers and air.
He might not have known that open-pit mining has caused
damage beyond repair that is described by proponents as
simply missteps.
And he could have argued that Alaskans are just as entitled
to make the same shortsighted decisions as residents in
other precious metal-rich regions who realized too late
their permitting process was also totally inadequate.
While fishing with my father for more than two decades,
I never heard him say that gold was more important than
providing the most sustainable and health-enhancing food
on the planet.
And when my son began fishing with us at the age of 10,
and there were 70 years between generations on our boat,
I was deeply grateful that we had chosen to pass along
a renewable resource, not a plundered and contaminated
wild salmon watershed.
---- Anne Mosness
Bellingham, Wash
'What makes us uniquely Alaskan' can be debated with
regard to Pebble
Anchorage Daily News, Letter to the Editor
January 10, 2007
http://www.adn.com/opinion/letters/story/8551692p-8445526c.html
I fail to understand how a proposed fish refuge in the
Bristol Bay watershed "challenges that spirit that
makes us so uniquely Alaskan," as Gail Phillips suggested
in her recent Compass opinion column ("Follow established
process for Pebble," Jan. 3). This innovative and
timely proposal to protect our invaluable fish resources
demonstrates the Alaska spirit in its purest form. You
take an independent and creative thinker who cares deeply
about his state, add a dose of confidence and can-do,
a willingness to roll up his sleeves and do the hard work
and in the process inspire his friends and neighbors to
hop on board, creating a momentum of support -- now that
is what I call the true Alaska spirit.
The true Alaskan does not stand idly by, watching our
resources being sold to the highest bidder while being
told to trust the process. In true Alaska fashion, we
vigorously defend what we believe in.
Ms. Phillips is right about one thing: There is a growing
opposition to the proposed Pebble mine. However, it's
not due to a new "shadow environmental group"
spreading fear and gloom. It is because every day more
Alaskans are realizing that modern mining practices are
harmful to our environment, and that to risk the incredible
wonders of Bristol Bay for short-term gain is simply not
worth it.
---- Valerie Connor
Homer
Mine opponents' disaster scenarios are out of whack
Published: January 21, 2007
Anchorage Daily News, Voice of the Times
http://www.adn.com/opinion/voice/story/8579316p-8472353c.html
You know that scary television commercial warning that
the Pebble mine will have a 700-foot-high dam holding
back a huge reservoir of acid-filled water? Well, industry
experts say that’s a bunch of hooey.
The narrator on the scary ad implies that the “dam”
could break in an earthquake and send a massive wall of
toxic water down into Bristol Bay, killing the salmon
and eliminating thousands of fishing jobs.
Opponents label the project a gold mine, and the prospect
does contain a lot of gold. But the operators consider
it primarily a copper mine. About 60 percent of the mineral
content is copper, 30 percent is gold and 10 percent is
molybdenum. The owners say they are hoping to finalize
the plan next year and spend the next three years in the
permitting process with state and federal agencies.
The dam won’t be a huge concrete structure, as most
people envision it. It would actually be a 700 foot tall
rock embankment with a tailings pond behind it, a pond
that could be stocked with rainbow trout. (Many of them
are.) It won’t tower over the scenery, but would
sit relatively low in a valley.
The pond will have a deep rock bottom and a top layer
of 50 to 75 feet of plain old water; no acid, no other
nasty chemicals, just plain old H2O. The bottom would
consist of non-toxic crushed rock left over from the mining
operation and deep below that would be a layer of similar
rock, a small part of which is called “pyritic”
or capable of generating acid if it’s exposed to
the air. Keeping the pyritic rock buried under a tailings
pond prevents it from becoming troublesome for the environment.
A big embankment (pile of rocks) built to modern requirements,
as this one would be, is unlikely to burst even in a major
earthquake. Like most rock piles, it could only settle
and the amount of settlement is entirely predictable.
A shaker of that size would cause a lot more serious problems
for the area than a pond leaking plain old water into
the environment.
If a pond that size were suddenly unleashed, what would
be the effect? Well, actually not much, except for any
people standing directly below it and perhaps any trout
in the pond. Presumably a sudden release of water could
be a problem, but a pond of that size would scarcely be
the makings of a disaster.
So are Pebble mine opponents grossly exaggerating the
environmental threat from the tailings pond? They certainly
are.
Development ushers in roads
Some anticipate new routes will harm wild resources
By Dustin Solberg
The Bristol BayTimes
The map begins to tell the story. After unrolling it and
spreading it across the table, Bobby Andrew begins to
point out the colored blocks.
Each is an amalgamation of mining claims, and each has
the potential to become a mine. They pepper themap, but
the largest sprawls across the Pebble deposit. Its owners,
Northern Dynasty Mines Inc., are planning a massive copper
and gold mine there.
In recent years, Andrew, a subsistence fisherman from
Aleknagik, has watched the squares multiply. Each year,
the map has new mining claims. In a broad region spanning
the headwaters of Bristol Bay - from Lake Clark in the
northeast and Sleitat Mountain in the northwest, the Alaska
Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys counted
1,357 new state mining claims in 2005. In 2004, there
were more than 800 new claims. The year before, the survey
recorded 1,257 new claims.
In addition, the Bureau of Land Management is expected
to open its federal lands to mineral development later
this year.
For Andrew, the mining claims are invisible threats visible
only on mineral maps. Even less visible, said Andrew,
are the networks of roads and power lines - the inevitable
tentacles of industrialization - that accompany projects
such as the proposed Pebble copper and gold mine.
"Once they build a road, it's going to be opening
up lands that are currently inaccessible.
Once that happens, we will be competing with many, many
people for renewable resources: the moose, the caribou,
the five species of salmon and all the freshwater fish,"
said Andrew, a leader in Nunumta Aulukestai, an association
of eight Native village corporations.
Among the mining claims in the Bristol Bay region, exploration
is most advanced on the Pebble and its accompanying Pebble
East deposit. The company estimates the deposits contain
24 billion pounds of copper, 22 million ounces of gold
and 1.6 billion pounds of molybdenum.
The company is continuing its exploratory drilling and
has said its extraction methods may include an open-pit
or a mechanized form of underground mining.
A road linking the proposed mine with Cook Inlet is already
on the drawing board. A Northern
Dynasty spokesperson said the anticipated one-lane road
- the first in the planned industrialization of the Bristol
Bay region - would be closed to the public. "The
communities out there would have a significant influence
to how it would be controlled," said Sean Magee of
Northern Dynasty.
That very infrastructure is what some Alaskans have been
waiting for - increasing access to natural resources is
a precursor to development and associated spin-off businesses
such as repair shops, motels and restaurants. Some communities
in remote Alaska have favored new roads for increased
access to emergency services and a less costly transportation
option.
One noted river ecologist who has documented changes to
the rivers of the Pacific Northwest concurs with Andrew's
concerns: the coming of industry carries unforeseen consequences.
"They open up the landscape to access that wasn't
there before. That's the biggest thing people don't realize.
Any time you build a road, everything else that can possibly
come will come because the road is there," said ecologist
Jack Stanford. "Even if the mine impacts are limited,
it's that access that begins to spell the end of things
such as salmon or grizzly bears."
Stanford is a professor at the University of Montana who
worked for the Alaska Department of Game and Fish at fish-counting
stations on the Nushagak River in the 1960s. He is an
authority on salmon-bearing waters of the Pacific Northwest
who studies the pristine river systems of Siberia's Kamchatka
Peninsula - a
landscape left largely uninhabited after the Soviet-era
military withdrew its presence there.
In his recent studies of Kamchatka's Kol River, he said
that a new pipeline and an accompanying road have brought
more people to remote regions of the peninsula. "Now,
because the road is there, the poachers are there. Where
once we had large Chinooks abundantly, we don't have them,"
he said. "It occurs on all the rivers that have been
opened by that pipeline road."
In the case of the Kamchatka Peninsula, Stanford said,
poachers are netting females from their redds, taking
only roe and abandoning the carcasses. The roe is sold
in Russian and Japanese markets, where it has become a
replacement for the roe from the continent's diminished
stocks of river sturgeon. "I've seen piles of fish
the size of football fields, salmon with the guts cut
open and roe taken from the females. The reason they can
do it now is they've got a transportation corridor,"
Stanford said.
Such poaching, he said, is a predictable consequence of
development in pristine landscapes. When considered cumulatively,
they constitute significant threats to the continued viability
of salmon runs, he said. "The wild fish resource
is being pressured from every direction already,"
he said.
This includes competition from five billion hatchery-raised
smolts in the north Pacific.
"That's enough to change the trophic structure of
the ocean," he said.
He said high harvest rates and the effects of climate
change, which include warming sea surface temperatures
and rising sea levels, are continuing threats to the world's
wild salmon. The loss of salmon spawning habitat is one
measurable result of development, but other changes won't
be so easy to measure. "It won't be a straight response,"
he said. "It will be a complex response."
"Alaska is the final breadbasket, and I'd say Bristol
Bay is the epicenter," he said. "If it goes,
it's over."
