Recent Developments:

New Men's Journal article (March 6, 2009) on the Pebble Endangered Alaska.
Read the article >>>

In Alaska’s legendary Bristol Bay watershed, an enormous open-pit mine would damage vital wildlife habitat, including the world’s greatest spawning grounds for wild salmon. Read More >>> By Hal Herring, contributing editor to Field and Stream magazine.

Anglo American Chairman, Sir Mark Moody Stuart visits Dillingham and encounters the Rebels to the Pebble and other locals. See the TV report >>> . Rebels to the Pebble previously brought their anti-mine message to an Anchorage forum. Read more >>>

Alaskans send a letter to Anglo American CEO Cynthia Carroll. New Investigation lifts veil on Pebble Mine promoter Anglo American’s Corporate Record.
Read More >>>

Sarah Palin’s Hand Seen in Battle Over Mine in Alaska (N.Y Times, 10/22/08)

Alaska's Pebble mine worries biologist
Dr. Carol Ann Woody, a former federal fisheries biologist, said Pebble drill rigs might be drawing up water that could already be doing harm to developing salmon.
Read more >>>

In July of 2009, the Pebble Pedalers, a four-man team of conservation-minded cyclists will begin a 17,000-mile journey to raise awareness of and garner support for protecting the Bristol Bay Watershed from the largest proposed open pit mine in North America.

Alaskan Delegation to Hold Press Briefing in London
Invites Media to UK Premiere of “Red Gold”
Alaskans head to London to Confront Anglo American about proposed Pebble Gold Mine
UK Premiere of Award-Winning Documentary about Mine Threats to Bristol Bay
Alaska Native leaders and commercial fishermen will travel thousands of miles to London next week to confront Anglo American executives with their concerns about the company’s proposed Pebble mine in southwest Alaska. The Alaskan delegation believes the leadership of the London-based company, one of the world’s largest mining conglomerates, has failed to understand the depth and breadth of the opposition it faces.
 
The United Kingdom is the world’s largest consumer of Alaska canned sockeye salmon, which comes predominantly from Bristol Bay, home to the most productive wild sockeye fishery in the world. Anglo American’s Pebble mine would obliterate miles of salmon-spawning habitat and generate billions of pounds of mine waste, much of it toxic to fish.
 
Opponents of Pebble mine include subsistence, commercial and sport fishing interests, including Alaska Native organizations and United Fishermen of Alaska; well known guides and outfitters, such as Hardy, Orvis and LL Bean; seafood processors; conservation and fishing organizations such as Trout Unlimited; retailers and well-known jewelers, such as Tiffany & Co.
 
On Tuesday, April 14, Alaskans will brief the press about their concerns before meeting with Anglo American CEO Cynthia Carroll. Also on Tuesday, journalists are invited to join the Alaskans at the London premiere of “Red Gold,” an award-winning documentary that tells the story of Bristol Bay and the people whose lives would be changed forever by the Pebble mine.
 
The Alaskans will be available for interviews in London April 13-16. To arrange an interview, contact: Harlin Savage, Resource Media, (208) 133-8769 (UK)
 
 For more about the issue, the people and the London itinerary, visit http://www.ak2uk.com/.
 
WHO:             

• Lydia Olympic, member and past president of Igiugig Village Tribal Council
• Bobby Andrew, board member of Nunamta Aulukestai (Caretakers of the Land)
• Thomas Tilden, Chief of the Curyung Tribal Council
• Peter Andrew, former president of New Stuyahok Ltd.
• Everett Thompson, Naknek driftnetter and business owner
• Charles Jardine, well known fly-fisherman, artist and author
• Peter Cockwill, fishing guide and owner of Albury Game Angling

Pebble Mine In Southwest Alaska A Tougher Sell After Ruptured Dam Inundates The Kingston, Tennessee Area With 1.1 Billion Gallons Of Coal Ash Sludge

The proposed Pebble Mine in Southwest Alaska, already a tough sell to many Alaskans with the strongest opposition centered around the Bristol Bay area, may have become a tougher sell after the December 22nd, 2008 disaster just upstream of the confluence of the Tennessee and the Clinch Rivers near Kingston, Tennessee when a 65-foot TVA-owned earthen dam containing coal ash sludge ruptured and inundated 300 acres of the adjacent countryside with an estimated 1.1 billion gallons (or 5.4 million cubic yards) of the pudding-like goo. The sludge wall swamped residential lakefront property, swallowed farmland and killed fish. It's estimated to be 40 times bigger in volume than the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska. Visit the UnitedMountainDefense website and the DirtyCoalTVA blog for more information and pictures.

As a matter of fact, if the TVA doesn't move out smartly to clean up the mess, compensate the 42 affected families who owned property in the area, and restore the area, the disaster could be used as justification to kill the Pebble Mine project altogether.

While a specific cause of the dam's collapse has yet to be pinpointed, it's been noted that 8.83 inches of rain fell in the area during the preceding three weeks, which may have weakened the earthen berm retaining walls of the landfill sufficiently to cause them to give way, allowing five decades of fly and bottom ash to ooze over the river and land below. A TVA official stated that the dam had been inspected yearly, most recently in October.

At least three homes were completely destroyed and dozens more damaged. Officials have now declared that local tap water is considered safe because the treatment process removes the chemicals, but locals have been advised against consuming well water because of the possibility of groundwater contamination. Some heavy metal concentrations near the epicenter of the spill were found to be 300 times higher than regulatory levels.

So what about the Pebble Mine? According to the Pebble Partnership, the proposed development plan for the Pebble Project, to be submitted in 2009, will be subject to a regulatory review involving 11 state and federal agencies and the citizens of Alaska. The Pebble Partnership must also provide information for an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and achieve more than 60 state and federal permits. The combined review and permitting process could take three years or more to complete. The Partnership's Pre-Permitting Reports on meteorology, hydrology, and geology of the area can be found HERE.

The Renewable Resources Coalition, which opposes the Pebble Mine and which was one of the groups behind the failed Ballot Measure 4 during the summer of 2006, points out that the proposed Pebble Mine, which would be the first of many, would include the largest dam in the world, larger than Three Gorges Dam in China, and made of earth, not concrete, to hold back the toxic waste created in the mining process. Pages 8 and 9 of these DNR documents show the proposed tailings pond and the associated earthen dam. It will be considerably higher than a mere 65 feet. It looks like around 700 feet, to be precise.

But will a 700-foot high earthen retaining wall be strong enough to contain such a large tailings pond? We have an additional problem not shared by Tennessee; Alaska is geologically active. That means earthquakes. The TVA spill has already produced a fish kill; a similar breach of the Pebble tailings pond would produce another fish kill. But a Pebble fish kill would jeopardize salmon in their spawning area, adversely affecting one of the three largest industries in Alaska - commercial fishing. In 2008, the total value paid to all harvesters of all types of fish in Alaska was around $1.4 billion.

The Pebble Partnership needs to factor in the TVA spill and inform the Alaskan public how they plan to minimize the possibility of a similar breach in Alaska. They should not interpret the vote against Ballot Measure 4 last summer as a vote for the Pebble Mine. Most people voted against Ballot Measure 4 because they believed it would shut down existing mining in Alaska, although the language tended to grandfather existing operations. But had the TVA spill occurred before the August election, it's quite possible that Ballot Measure 4 would have passed.

Other areas of the U.S. are vulnerable to these problems. A Kennecott tailings pond near Magna, Utah, is considered a threat to rupture in the event of a 7.5 or greater earthquake, inundating several adjacent neighborhoods. The Wasatch Front is considered long overdue for a serious quake. And Leadville, Colorado remains in danger of a possible toxic gusher from a mine drainage tunnel. Alaska is open for business for the mining industry, but not at the price of our fishing industry, and not at the risk of permanent destruction of our environment.
Labels: environment, environmentalism, Pebble Mine

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Anglo American's record doesn't bode well for Alaska

COMPASS: Other points of view
http://www.adn.com/opinion/story/600727.html
By GLENN MILLER, PhD.
Published: November 24th, 2008 09:10 PM
Last Modified: November 24th, 2008 09:55 PM
Anglo American, one of the world's biggest mining corporations, wants Alaska's permission to build a massive gold and copper mine in the headwaters

of the top salmon-producing rivers in the Bristol Bay region. As a scientist who has studied mining for more than 25 years, I believe the threats posed

by Pebble loom larger than any mine developed in the last 30 years in the United States.
While Anglo American has promised the Pebble mine won't harm Bristol Bay's rich salmon fishery, it is best to judge this promise in light of the impacts that other Anglo American mines have had on clean water and clean air.
From a Nevada perspective, Anglo American's record is not good.
For years, the largest single source of mercury air pollution in the United States was the Jerritt Canyon gold mine in northern Nevada, which Anglo American owned through a subsidiary.
Between 1998 -- the first year EPA required reporting mines like Jerritt Canyon -- and 2001, the mine emitted between 4,700 to more than 9,000 pounds of mercury into the air each year, or about 25 to more than 50 times as much as a single medium-sized coal-fired power plant produces annually.
Worse yet, Jerritt Canyon's tailings pond, which holds millions of tons of cyanide-processed ore, has leaked ever since it was built in the mid-1980s. According to Nevada Division of Environmental Protection records, this contaminated slurry of waste that contains mercury and arsenic has been leaking into groundwater for years, some of which has gotten past the extensive pump-back system.
The very large waste rock dumps at Jerritt Canyon, as well as Anglo's closed Big Springs Mine, are both releasing large quantities of sulfate and other contaminants into surface water, with no end in sight to this contamination. The releases exceed discharge standards for surface water, but Anglo has never been compelled to clean up these sources. They sold this problem to the next owner, Queenstake, but the problems created under Anglo's stewardship remain. Queenstake has now been purchased by another company, Yukon-Nevada Gold Corp., which apparently has run into financial problems. It has recently shut down the Jerritt Canyon mine and most of the employees are gone. While the site does have a closure bond, the problems at the site, particularly the tailings facility and mercury issues, have not been addressed in a systematic manner. Without a clear plan on closure, nobody can ensure that the bond is sufficient to truly remediate the site.
Where is the expertise in mine closure and the management and technical skills of Anglo? The state and federal agencies now are dealing with a small

company that is in apparently financially difficult times attempting to re-start the mill, and at the same time deal with severe environmental challenges,

most of which began during Anglo American's ownership.
State and federal agencies repeatedly expressed concerns about pollution from Jerritt Canyon during Anglo American's tenure. Yet the corporation failed to fix what has become an extensive and serious water pollution problem that will persist for many generations to come.
Anglo American's resistance to fixing water pollution problems, and the fact that it
allowed them to continue for so long, does not bode well for Alaska.
Pebble is different of course, but in ways that could actually magnify problems.
Pebble would be a much bigger mine than Jerritt Canyon. Pebble would unearth billions
of tons of the type of sulfur-bearing rock that creates acid drainage. But unlike Jerritt Canyon, there's not much limestone buffer, which means acid drainage is likely. Copper, zinc and other heavy metals are also likely to get into surface water during operations. Over time, this pollution would threaten wild salmon and the Alaskans who depend on them to sustain their jobs and traditions.
If Anglo American's past performance is any indication, Alaskans should be wary. At Jerritt Canyon, a modern mine operating under well-established environmental laws, Anglo American's assurances that it would maintain high environmental standards clearly were not met.
Alaskans will make up their own minds about Pebble, but they deserve to know the previous record of Anglo American, not just what its consultants want them to know.

Glenn Miller is a professor of natural resources and environmental sciences at the University of Nevada, Reno and is on the board of directors of Earthworks and the Center for Science in Public Participation.

National hunting organizations, Dallas Safari Club and Wildlife Forever, send Governor Palin letters in opposition to the Pebble Mine. See the RRC press release >>>

State responds to Pebble mine concerns
By Margaret Bauman
Alaska Journal of Commerce
State mining coordinator Tom Crafford says he remains confident that ongoing exploration drilling at the proposed Pebble mine in Southwest Alaska will have no significant impact on fisheries resources.
Crafford also said the current state process for keeping the public informed on its permitting procedures is transparent, in the face of increased public interest in the proposed Pebble prospect, located at the headwaters of the Bristol Bay watershed.
Crafford's letter of July 3 to fisheries researcher and consultant Carol Ann Woody commented on water quantity, water quality, and monitoring and reporting issues. It was in response to concerns raised by Woody in her letter of April 2.
Crafford said Woody's concerns about reactivity of Pebble ore, acid mine drainage, metals leaching and potential contamination from various metals in relation to the number, depth and location of drill holes were valid issues that would be addressed if and when Pebble proceeds to development permitting.
"They are really not issues of concern for the on-going drilling exploration program at Pebble," he said.
The potential for the ore to generate acid is tied not only to the amount and type of sulfide minerals present, but to the exposure of those sulfide minerals to both water and oxygen and certain bacteria, Crafford said.
It is the oxidation of the sulfide minerals, predominately pyrite, that leads to formation of sulfuric acid, and removal of any one of those essential components - water, oxygen or sulfides - prohibits acid generation, he said.
"This is the premise behind submarine disposal of sulfidic tailings," he said. "The layer of water atop the tailings prevents the access of oxygen to the sulfide minerals, thereby preventing oxidation and the generation of acid."
Crafford also said there is ample evidence that oxidation and acidification are not issues in relation to the deep drilling at Pebble East, and that nearly all of the drill holes are being plugged with either cement or bentonite slurry after completion. Bentonite, a naturally occurring clay mineral that swells in the presence of water, is the major component in benseal, a product used to seal the drill holes after completion, he said.
Crafford acknowledged that acidic rock drainage and metal leaching is a serious negative potential consequence of mining in general.
"It is a major issue of concern at Pebble and any development proposals must address in extreme detail how acidic rock drainage/metal leaching will be mitigated/prevented," he said.
However, because of the depth of the Pebble East orebody and the methodology and scale of the on-going exploration drilling program, this is not an issue of current concern, he said.
In her April 2 letter, Woody detailed numerous concerns about the exploration process and their potential effects on the salmon spawning stream network - the Talariks, Koktulis, Kaskanak and Chulitna - which ultimately flow into Bristol Bay's two largest salmon producing systems, the Nushagak and the Kvichak.
A fisheries biologist, Woody served on the Pebble technical advisory team for the U.S. Geological Survey before resigning to work independently.
Woody asked a number of specific questions regarding the amount of water used in the exploration drilling process, monitoring of groundwater and changes in local water chemistry.
She said elevated concentrations of copper, zinc and arsenic, which occur in the Pebble prospect, could all be toxic to fish at levels just above that which is naturally occurring.
She also repeated earlier concerns that baseline data collections on natural water flows and geochemistry were conducted by mine backers at the same time as the exploratory drilling program. That limits the ability to assess changes to water flow and chemistry, she said.
Crafford reiterated that the burden of defending all baseline environmental studies collected in support of future permit applications and National Environmental Policy Act analyses for potential development of projects rests with the applicant.
Meanwhile, drill crews are working around the clock to gather samples to identify rich vanes of copper, gold and molybdenum beneath the surface.
Meanwhile, the 2008 drilling exploration program, with a budget of $140 million, continues at Pebble East, said Sean MaGee, a spokesman for the partnership. MaGee said an average of 180 to 200 people are working on site daily.
"We are approaching the point where this time next year we will be presenting a preliminary proposed mine plan," he said.

RRC issues news release regarding the defeat at the polls of Proposition 4 - The Clean Water Initiative. The ballot measure would have restricted pollution from the proposed Pebble Mine in Bristol Bay, Alaska.Read the press release >>>

Legislative and Ballot Initiative Update:

The Alaska Clean Water Initiative, also known as Ballot Proposition #4, goes down to defeat after record spending by foreign mining companies. For voting details see http://www.elections.alaska.gov/08prim/data/results.html . 

The proposed Alaska Wild Salmon Protection Act is introduced
in Juneau - HB 134 - . See the Press Release. Unfortunately the bill is stalled in committee as is SB 67 - the Jay Hammond Refuge proposal for Bristol Bay.

Filmmakers focus on Bristol Bay, Pebble project
Despite their own reservations, they say they'll include both sides

By ELIZABETH BLUEMINK
ebluemink@adn.com

Published: August 20, 2007
Last Modified: August 20, 2007 at 08:47 AM

This summer, a couple of young filmmakers from Colorado traveled inland from the southwest coast of Alaska to the headwaters of Bristol Bay to create a documentary about its enormous fishery and the people who rely on it. The filmmakers wanted to talk to residents about a new industry rising in the region: mining.

The hills north of Iliamna Lake straddle the headwaters of two rivers that feed the richest sockeye fishery in the world. They also hold billions of dollars worth of copper, gold and molybdenum.

With this documentary, and myriad other publicity projects brewing, the foes of the Pebble project -- a massive mineral deposit near Iliamna -- want to make Bristol Bay known to virtually every American, to generate as much national opposition to mining in the Bristol Bay region as there is to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

"We're very aggressively working on building national attention," said Art Hackney, a founder of the Renewable Resources Coalition, an Anchorage-based group headed by businessmen funding Pebble opposition in Alaska. "We're going to make this a world priority."

Hackney epitomizes the odd assortment of special interests that have joined forces to fight Pebble. A political consultant, Hackney is a frequent development booster, much more at home defending the "bridges to nowhere," opening ANWR to oil drilling and promoting the Red Dog Mine than trying to save pristine salmon streams from mining.

Pebble "is a different animal" than those projects, he says, because it will interfere with an existing industry, fishing.

"If good science shows it can't be done, we want it put to bed," he said.

The filmmakers and Hackney's coalition are just a fragment of the diverse forces getting involved in the battle over Pebble, which include hunters, sportfishermen, commercial fishermen, lodge owners, Bristol Bay Native groups, outdoor retailers, environmentalists and some villages and tribal groups.

THE NEXT ANWR

The campaign to stop Pebble has mushroomed over several years in Alaska.

Outside, the fight is being led by sportfishing groups. In the past year, some of the country's biggest fly-fishing outfitters -- including Redington, Orvis and Patagonia -- lined up publicly against large-scale mining in the Bristol Bay region.

Northern Dynasty Mines Ltd., the company exploring Pebble on state-owned land, says it won't even apply for permits for five or six years. The publicity machine against Pebble is "unprecedented" for a project this early in its development, company officials said.

But Pebble's critics aren't willing to wait.

"People see Pebble as the next ANWR," said Jason Brune, executive director of the Resource Development Council, a pro-development business group based in Anchorage, which hasn't officially taken a position on the project.

The developers should get a fair chance to prove they can build a mine without hurting the fisheries, Brune said.

The filmmakers who explored Bristol Bay this summer, Travis Rummel and Ben Knight, said most people in the Lower 48 have never heard of Bristol Bay or Pebble. They want to change that.

Pebble can capture national attention because Bristol Bay is legendary among U.S. hunters and fishermen, said Scott Hed, outreach director for the Sportsman's Alliance for Alaska, which has been working to woo other hook-and-bullet groups to the anti-Pebble campaign.

Patagonia put up $5,000 plus $2,700 in equipment for the film. Last year, the company and 36 sportfishing-oriented companies and trade groups signed a protest letter to political leaders, including Gov. Sarah Palin, which was published in 12 nationally distributed outdoor magazines. The letter said mining in Bristol Bay is too much of a risk to its fisheries.

CREATIVE OPPOSITION

Rummel's tiny Denver-based film company, Felt Soul Media, joined up with the Alaska chapter of Trout Unlimited to promote and raise money for an in-depth, low-budget film about the region. The filmmakers' routine is to put most of their money into high-quality equipment, then couch surf or camp out.

They promise the film will feature people for and against Pebble, although Rummel and Knight admit to their own strong reservations about building a world-class mine in the Bristol Bay region.

Mining officials interviewed during Felt Soul's project are pessimistic the film will be fair to them.

"They received funding from sworn opponents of the Pebble project. We fear that it isn't objective journalism," said Sean Magee, Northern Dynasty's vice president of public affairs.

Rummel and Knight, both 29 and both avid fly-fishermen, rave about their summer in the Bush.

Of Bristol Bay: "People seem to have their priorities straight out there. We're so lucky we got to experience this," said Knight, who took a sabbatical from his year-round job as photo editor at a small Colorado newspaper.

"We're catch-and-release fishermen," Knight added. "And the next thing we know, we're literally knee-deep in a skiff full of dead, beautiful fish and our waders are slathered in salmon blood, and we're just like, 'Wow.' "

Starting in June, the two and their project coordinator, Trout Unlimited's Lauren Oakes, camped at the Peter Pan salmon cannery in Dillingham and in villagers' houses. They spent days with fishermen -- in their boats and homes. They floated next to belugas feeding on salmon near Nushagak Point, and two months later, hundreds of miles upstream, they stared down in amazement at tens of thousands of spawning sockeye.

While they ended up with an enormous quantity of footage, some of their most tantalizing targets declined to go on camera, Rummel said. For example, Bob Gillam, the Anchorage financier who has been funding much of the anti-Pebble fight and is described on their blog as a "big, bold, cigar lovin' fella."

Gillam refused to be interviewed on film, but he did provide two bush planes and three of his lodge employees to help the filmmakers get to the Koktuli River, near the Pebble site, for a 53-mile raft trip. And he donated money to the project, Rummel said.

They did spend an afternoon with Bella Hammond, the widow of former Gov. Jay Hammond, at her Lake Clark homestead, though she turned the tables and interviewed them.

"She's like the coolest grandma ever," Knight said.

After roughly 60 days in the Bush, gathering more than 40 hours of digital video, the two now face months of editing.

Next year, they hope to release their film for national distribution on the film festival circuit -- and maybe television.

###

Find Elizabeth Bluemink online at adn.com/contact/ebluemink or call 257-4317.

FOR MORE on Knight and Rummel's film, visit

feltsoulmedia.wordpress.com

Boston Globe Editorial
Protect Alaska's wild salmon
April 2, 2007

IN ALASKA, the world's most valuable wild salmon run is threatened by a plan to dig North America's largest open-pit gold and copper mine. Like any major development promising jobs, Northern Dynasty Minerals' Pebble project has supporters in Alaska, while opponents have introduced bills in the state Legislature to block the plan and protect the headwaters of Bristol Bay. More than any local action, however, conscientious enforcement of the US Clean Water Act by federal officials should deal the Pebble project the crippling blow it deserves.

The problem is that, under President Bush, enforcement of the nation's environmental laws cannot be taken for granted. It took the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to conclude recently in a preliminary ruling that the Army Corps of Engineers had been wrong to grant permission for a much smaller Alaska gold mine to dump its tailings waste into a lake.

The corps was acting in line with a 2002 policy change by the US Environmental Protection Agency that eased rules for mountain-top removal mining. The Appeals Court reversed a lower court judge and said that mining tailings, the waste product of a chemical milling process, could not be treated like mere "fill material" that the 2002 regulation allowed mining companies to dump into bodies of water. A spokesman for Northern Dynasty said the company was not certain how the court action would affect its plan for a dam-enclosed holding area that fishermen say would destroy fish spawning waters.

One of the earthen dams that could be used to hold back the tailings would be 4.3 miles long and more than 700 feet high, just slightly shorter than Boston's Hancock Tower. The dam would be larger than the Three Gorges Dam in China.

Both commercial and sport fishermen fear the effect the project would have on the region's carefully managed salmon and trout fisheries. Copper released into the environment, the fishermen know, interferes with the ability of the salmon to return to the stream in which it was born.

Bristol Bay produces 30 percent of all Alaskan wild salmon, with a value of $216 million in 2006. Pebble's reserves of gold, copper, and molybdenum, a metal used in strengthening steel, have an estimated value of $300 billion. "This is it," said Lindsey Bloom, a Bristol Bay fishing boat captain, in an interview. "Do we value a life-sustaining resource or do we value gold? You can't eat gold."

When Congress passed the Clean Water Act more than 30 years ago, it was intended precisely to protect the pristine streams and lakes that sustain communities of fish, bears, and human beings. Federal officials should take their cue from the Court of Appeals and make the Clean Water Act a bulwark against the Pebble project.

© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.
The problem is that, under President Bush, enforcement of the nation's environmental laws cannot be taken for granted. It took the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to conclude recently in a preliminary ruling that the Army Corps of Engineers had been wrong to grant permission for a much smaller Alaska gold mine to dump its tailings waste into a lake.

The corps was acting in line with a 2002 policy change by the US Environmental Protection Agency that eased rules for mountain-top removal mining. The Appeals Court reversed a lower court judge and said that mining tailings, the waste product of a chemical milling process, could not be treated like mere "fill material" that the 2002 regulation allowed mining companies to dump into bodies of water. A spokesman for Northern Dynasty said the company was not certain how the court action would affect its plan for a dam-enclosed holding area that fishermen say would destroy fish spawning waters.

One of the earthen dams that could be used to hold back the tailings would be 4.3 miles long and more than 700 feet high, just slightly shorter than Boston's Hancock Tower. The dam would be larger than the Three Gorges Dam in China.

Both commercial and sport fishermen fear the effect the project would have on the region's carefully managed salmon and trout fisheries. Copper released into the environment, the fishermen know, interferes with the ability of the salmon to return to the stream in which it was born.

Bristol Bay produces 30 percent of all Alaskan wild salmon, with a value of $216 million in 2006. Pebble's reserves of gold, copper, and molybdenum, a metal used in strengthening steel, have an estimated value of $300 billion. "This is it," said Lindsey Bloom, a Bristol Bay fishing boat captain, in an interview. "Do we value a life-sustaining resource or do we value gold? You can't eat gold."

When Congress passed the Clean Water Act more than 30 years ago, it was intended precisely to protect the pristine streams and lakes that sustain communities of fish, bears, and human beings. Federal officials should take their cue from the Court of Appeals and make the Clean Water Act a bulwark against the Pebble project.

© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.

Pebble's foes float tax idea for mines. 01/04/07
Read the Anchorage Daily News article >>

Hydrologists Report released 10/06/06 proves new permit requests by Pebble developer for water rights will drain salmon spawning areas.
Read the News Release and the Report >>>

Is this a Crime? First photos of pollution at Pebble mine site taken by Erin McKittrick. See the photos and read the story>

"Wait and See" versus "I've Seen Enough"
Anchorage Daily News - Compass articles 10/23/05

U.S. Senator Ted Stevens announces his opposition to the Pebble Mine . Read more in the Peninsula Clarion.

What is the mining
industry now saying
about Pebble?
- Read the answer >>

Ground Zero for toxic waste tailings dam larger than Three Gorges Dam in China

Other Polls Had Found Overwhelming Statewide Opposition to Pebble Mine.
See the 10/25/06 News Release with Results>>>
.......... Hellenthal Executive Summary (Bristol Bay Poll) >>>
.......... Cromer Group Executive Summary (Statewide Poll) >>>
.......... Excerpts from both Polls >>>

Northern Dynasty shares plans
By HAL SPENCE
Peninsula Clarion
April 18, 2007
Still years away from filing for its first mining permit, Northern Dynasty Mines Inc. continues work on its broad-ranging baseline environmental studies program in anticipation of answering the concerns of a skeptical public with what the company hopes will be provable scientific fact.

To view article in its entirety, please click on

http://www.peninsulaclarion.com/stories/041807/news_0418new004.shtml

DAMS DESIGNED FOR DISASTER

Northern Dynasty has begun the permitting process by just filing an application for permits to build at least 5 incredibly large earthen dams on the North and South Fork of the Koktuli River at the headwaters of the Bristol Bay watershed. The proposed dams would be tailings settling ponds or in another words, toxic waste storage sites. The one earthen dam would be 740 feet high and 4.3 miles long. The other dam would be 700 feet high and 2.9 miles long. The larger dam would be higher than the Hoover Dam or the Grand Coulee Dam which are of course made of concrete. These proposed earthen dams are in one of the most active earthquake zones in Alaska. Please see the attached letter with specifics from Lake and Peninsula Borough to DNR requesting that all such applications be suspended. Clearly, if these applications for permits are approved it will only be a matter of time before a disaster will occur. Read more in the Alaska newspaper articles below.

Alaska Board of Fisheries: Proposal 121 by George Matz:
State Fish Refuge for Lower Talarik Creek, Upper Talarik Creek and Koktuli River.
Read the details of an excellent way to save critical fish habitat >>>
Read the Board of Fisheries Abstract of the Proposal >>>

Pebble proposes vast dams for waste: Largest of the earthen structures would stand taller than Hoover and Grand Coulee dams.

By ELIZABETH BLUEMINK
Anchorage Daily News

Published: October 8, 2006
Last Modified: October 8, 2006 at 03:40 AM

The company pursuing the Pebble mine prospect recently furnished the state with a proposal for earthen dams so large that some Alaskans are comparing them to the world's biggest dams.

The dams described by Northern Dynasty Mines Inc. would hold back rock waste and water from the potential mine in the headwaters of Bristol Bay.

Though they are only an idea, the dams have unleashed a flood of new debate over the potential copper, gold and molybdenum deposit near Lake Iliamna.

Northern Dynasty's concept calls for a series of five dams that would fill in some valleys and a lake with tailings, or mining rock waste. The dams would also divert some water from three streams in the Bristol Bay watershed, the world's largest salmon fishery.

Many mines, including Red Dog and Fort Knox in Alaska, use tailings dams.

If built, Pebble would essentially be one of the largest mines of the world, and these dams would be similarly big.

"They aren't small. We've never said they are small," said Bruce Jenkins, the Vancouver, British Columbia-based company's chief operating officer.

In its final stages, the largest of the Pebble dams would grow taller than the Lower 48's Hoover or Grand Coulee dams.

That's just incomprehensible, says Lake and Peninsula Borough Mayor Glen Alsworth.

But wait a minute, says Northern Dynasty. These dams wouldn't look or be anything like the Hoover or Grand Coulee, which were built to generate electricity, not to deal with mine waste.

Rather than a vertical concrete massif holding back billions of tons of water, these dams would be steep, rocky embankments stretching for miles in length and holding back billions of tons of tailings and water.

"You have to envision this as a mountain you've created," Jenkins said. "You are creating a new land form. Over time, they (the tailings dams) get more and more stable," Jenkins said.

Jenkins stresses that the dams, and the Pebble project in general, are not final designs. Northern Dynasty doesn't plan to submit a proposed mine development plan for Pebble until 2008.

Yet the project's foes say the dams are too dangerous.

Not only would the dams divert large quantities of water needed by fish, but they'd forever sit on one of the world's most earthquake-prone areas, according to the Renewable Resources Coalition.

According to Northern Dynasty consultants, the dams would be built to withstand a "maximum credible earthquake" of magnitude 7.8.

"It's hard to comprehend the scale of these dams," Alsworth, the Lake and Peninsula borough mayor, wrote in a recent letter to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources expressing his concern about the massive structures.

"Let's analyze alternate methods, if it can be done," Alsworth added in a recent interview.

Alsworth asked DNR to suspend its review of the dams pending further study. DNR says it won't approve any Pebble project applications until the permitting stage.

As proposed, the dams and other water rights applications by Northern Dynasty would divert water from the north and south forks of the Koktuli River and Upper Talarik Creek.

The Bristol Bay Native Association provides economic and social services to Natives in the area. Last week the board voted to oppose all large-scale mining in the Bristol Bay region until studies prove "unequivocally" that it will not cause any net loss of fish to subsistence, commercial and sport fishermen.

"You are going to see more communities and organizations outside of conservation asking tough questions," said Tim Bristol, director of Trout Unlimited of Alaska.

Northern Dynasty has vowed that its project will not cause net loss to Bristol Bay fisheries. The company pitched the series of dams to DNR as its current preferred method to hem in the billions of tons of potential mining waste and water from the Pebble deposit.

Jenkins said Friday that the entire project should not be judged on its dam applications to DNR.

Northern Dynasty is now finding a rich mineralized area deep below the surface on the east side of its exploration zone. "We have a whole bunch of other alternatives to evaluate," Jenkins said.

Northern Dynasty chose tentative locations for the dams -- the drainage basins of the southern and northern forks of the Koktuli River -- because it believes they are the least environmentally sensitive places in the area to store mining waste, according to its dam applications.

Northern Dynasty projects it would store 2.5 billion tons of tailings behind the dams. An estimated 3 percent of the tailings would be potentially acid-generating rock, according to Northern Dynasty's filing with DNR. The company plans to store the rock permanently under water to prevent water pollution downstream.

Three dams would hem in up to 2 billion tons of mining waste, and two others would hold 500 million tons. One of the dams would grow to 740 feet tall and 4.3 miles long. The second largest would grow to 700 feet high and nearly 3 miles long.

The tailings would eventually form into a high plateau covered in roughly 50 feet of water, Jenkins said.

If any of the dams break, they will hurt the environment, said Bobby Andrew, a spokesman for Nunamta Aulukestai, a consortium of Bristol Bay Native villages that opposes the Pebble project.

If either the land or water becomes contaminated by tailings, "they are going to become worthless. No one will want to use them," Andrew explained.

DNR officials also said they are likely to follow through with a suggestion from Alsworth to convene a panel of national experts to review the dam designs.

Contact reporter Elizabeth Bluemink at ebluemink@adn.com or (907) 257-4317.

Northern Dynasty to Drain Salmon and Trout Spawning Streams !

In a major departure from their stated plans, Northern Dynasty Minerals has started the permit process for their Pebble Mine by applying for a permit to drain water from the Upper Talarik Creek and the Koktuli River. Why do they want the water from these worldclass salmon and trout streams?

READ MORE ON THIS CRITICAL THREAT>>>

Northern Dynasty's Water Rights Application documents hint at Plans

In the documents filed, Northern Dynasty has clearly stated its intentions to extend the open pit mine into the Upper Talarik Creek Watershed. This will absolutely destroy the upper reaches of the creek or, in Dynasty’s crisp, technical lingo, “This application is for all of the water up gradient of the proposed downstream limit of water extraction (DL-3 on Figure UT-1).”

See the Pebble Water Rights Map, by clicking here.

In addition to the map and the language above, the following language is very interesting as well:

“The Pebble Project will be a large open pit mine located 17 miles northwest of the community of Iliamna, on the north side of Lake Iliamna (Figure 1.1). Primary mine area facilities will consist of the open pit, ore conveyor, ore stockpile, a mill site (with associated offices, workshops, equipment repair and storage areas), tailing storage facilities, and a worker camp. Transportation facilities will include a mine area road network, and an approximately 100-mile road to a port facility on Cook Inlet. The primary port site facilities will include metal concentrates storage, fuel storage, a ship loading structure, barge landing, offices and worker housing.”

City of Dillingham, AK (largest city in Bristol Bay) passes resolution which opposes "... all large scale mining including the proposed Pebble Copper/Gold mine within its watershed." Read entire resolution >

Alaska Natives Petition Government - New Stuyahok, August 18, 2006
Thirteen native organizations met to organize themselves at large conference on the Nushagak River in Bristol Bay to stop the water rights grab and any large mining projects in the area.. (Note: the Petition was rejected by the Dept. of Natural Resources on September 18, 2006).

Alaska Magazine - Editorial - Pebble's Problems
"If we are ever going to make ourselves more than a source of raw materials, we’ve got to say no when places we value are threatened. Saying no to the Pebble mine is a perfect place to start."

Pebble promises
Keep a sharp eye on the fine print

Anchorage Daily News
Published: August 11, 2006
http://www.adn.com/opinion/story/8065897p-7958685c.html

Choggiung Village Corporation Unanimously Opposes Open Pit Mining in Bristol Bay ( largest native village corp in Bristol Bay watershed -Ed)

Native Leaders Also Dispute Claims that Mining and Fish can Coexist

See Full Release for More Information--

More from the "Newsroom" :

In Alaska, Surprise Resistance to Mine

Critics Say It Threatens Another Industry With Rich Tradition in State: Salmon Fishing. The Washington Post, Tuesday, August 15, 2006 Read entire Article>

Anchorage Daily News - Editorial -Pebble Mine Too Risky
"Wrong place to experiment with massive hole in the ground"

Chairman David Keene of the American Conservative Union
voices his opposition to the proposed Pebble project.