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 >>
Web posted Sunday, March 11, 2007
Polls show Alaskans favor protections
for Bristol Bay
Supporters of Pebble Mine project question methods,
timing of survey as Legislature debates bills that would
affect project
By Hal Spence and Margaret Bauman
Peninsula Clarion/Alaska Journal of Commerce
An exploration drilling rig works in the Pebble prospect
area near Iliamna on the Alaska Peninsula. A poll commissioned
by an opposition group to the mine project found support
for laws that would restrict mining practices in the
area. Mine backers, however, questions the poll's legitimacy.
ARCHIVE PHOTO/Rob Stapleton/AJOC
KENAI — Opponents of Northern Dynasty's proposed
Pebble Mine say a new opinion poll shows that provisions
in Bristol Bay protection bills now before the Alaska
Legislature are supported by a vast majority of Alaskans.
A spokesperson for Northern Dynasty Mines Inc. doubts
the survey methods and the results, calling it part
of a broad effort to raise fears and squelch the project
before it gets a fair hearing.
The poll, commissioned by the Renewable Resources Coalition
and conducted by Hellenthal and Associates, asked more
than 400 registered voters statewide whether they favored
or opposed legislation meant to protect Bristol Bay
fisheries.
In a press release Feb. 28, the coalition said Hellenthal
found 83 percent of Alaskans supported salmon protections
in House Bill 134. Among other things, that bill would
prohibit draining and destruction of salmon spawning
streams for industrial purposes.
Sixty-seven percent said they supported the habitat
protection concepts at the heart of Senate Bill 67.
That bill would establish a game refuge in the watersheds
making up the headwaters of Bristol Bay — an area
completely surrounding the proposed mine site. The refuge
would be named after late Gov. Jay Hammond and is supported
by his widow, Bella Hammond, and other family members,
the coalition said.
Sixty-nine percent of respondents said creation of
one of the world's largest open-pit mines at the headwaters
of the Bristol Bay watershed was a negative development
for Alaska.
Scott Brennan, chief operating officer of the Renewable
Resources Coalition, said sponsors of the measures,
including Sen. Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, and Rep. Bryce
Edgmon, D-Dillingham, were putting people and fisheries
first.
“Despite Northern Dynasty's corporate spin, these
bills are widely supported in Alaska. Our Bristol Bay
fisheries are too valuable to risk,” Brennan said.
Reached in Juneau on Feb. 28, shortly after appearing
at legislative hearings on House Bill 134, Brennan said
it was clear Alaskans valued salmon habitat protection
and clean water.
“They've seen that the (regulatory) system has
been weakened over the four-plus years under Gov. Frank
Murkowski. That message has been heard in Juneau,”
he said. “My sense of the hearings today was that
members of the committee heard the concerns of the commercial,
sport and subsistence fisheries communities in Bristol
Bay and will continue to discuss HB 134 and habitat
protection in general.”
Sean Magee, vice president for public affairs with
Northern Dynasty Mines Inc., is particularly critical
of HB 134, which he said would forbid any water withdrawals
or water insertions in any stream or water course, for
any commercial purpose, in the area of the proposed
mine. Magee said that while the measure includes exemptions,
there is still a lot of confusion about what the exemptions
mean. Magee asked even if those exemptions were clarified,
“why is it okay for the fish and water to be threatened
by some industries, but not by others?”
Magee called the bill “draconian” and said
it would severely restrict economic development over
22 million square acres of Southwest Alaska.
Polling method questioned
Hellenthal's survey was conducted between Feb. 12 and
Feb. 20, and had a 95 percent confidence level and a
margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percent.
Northern Dynasty's Magee said it was no accident the
release of the poll data was timed to coincide with
the launch of hearings on the pending legislation in
Juneau. He said Northern Dynasty suspects the Renewable
Resources Coalition is engaging in push polling, using
questions designed to elicit desired results.
“I would want to see the entire poll and the questions
before giving much credence to the results,” he
said.
Brennan said the Renewable Resources Coalition had
no problem releasing the questions.
According to their responses, participants represented
a cross-section of Republicans, Democrats and Independents,
equally divided from very conservative to very liberal,
with education levels ranging from no high school diploma
to post graduate studies.
Regarding Senate Bill 67, pollsters asked, “The
Bristol Bay watershed is the source of the world's greatest
wild salmon fishery generating more than $300 million
annually. A bill is now before the state legislature
to protect this valuable natural resource and to prohibit
the draining and destruction of salmon spawning streams
for industrial purposes. Do you strongly favor, somewhat
favor, somewhat oppose, or strongly oppose protecting
Bristol Bay salmon spawning areas in this manner?”
Eighty-six percent of those responding were somewhat
or strongly in favor, 19 percent somewhat or strongly
opposed, and about 4 percent were neutral.
A battle for public opinion
Magee acknowledged Northern Dynasty faces a daunting
political reality.
When it comes to the environment and potential for
harm represented by development, issues soon reach emotional
“apple pie and motherhood” territory, he said.
Alaskans' expressions of concern were legitimate and
understandable, he added, but easing those concerns
was part and parcel of the company's efforts in focusing
on good science, its environmental program and community
education outreach.
“That's the traditional approach,” Magee
said. “But this is not a traditional project.”
Having well-financed, professional activists running
an orchestrated campaign of the scope exhibited by the
Renewable Resources Coalition is not conventional, he
said, likening it to the advertising power of a McDonalds.
“We have to compete with that message,” he
said.
From Northern Dynasty's perspective, a “fear campaign”
is easier to produce than trying to communicate the
complexities of a mine development and environmental
protection plan.
“There is no doubt their advertising campaign
is influencing peoples' perceptions of Pebble,”
Magee acknowledged. “It's a very significant campaign.”
He said the Renewable Resources Coalition hasn't released
figures on what they are spending, but Northern Dynasty
professionals believe it to be in the range of $2 million
to $3 million.
Brennan said the Renewable Resources Coalition is as
501(c)3 corporation operating under federal requirements
and to that degree its financing is a matter of public
record.
“Our budget comes from our member organizations,”
he said. “We have over 300 individuals and businesses
who support us and enable us to work to protect their
interests in Bristol Bay. The members speak for themselves.”
Proponents of the mine, including a group called Truth
About Pebble, backed by upward of $20,000 in support
from Northern Dynasty, argue that all they want is due
process in pursuit of permits to develop the mine. Opponents,
including the Renewable Resources Coalition, say they
also want due process, but with protections in place
beforehand for the fisheries and water.
Brennan went on to say he saw it as ironic that a Canadian
company raising money in Europe, the Middle East and
other parts of the world would be critical of Alaskans
joining forces “to protect one of the world's greatest
salmon fisheries.”
Magee said thanks to the Renewable Resources Coalition
campaign, many Alaskans might now believe that Pebble
will destroy the Bristol Bay fishery. However, Northern
Dynasty claims its mine will touch only “two modest
tributaries” of the eight rivers that comprise
the Bristol Bay fishery system. Six of those rivers,
he said, supply 80 percent of the sockeye production
for Bristol Bay. The two tributaries represent “less
than one-half percent,” he said.
“Our commitment is that our project will cause
no reduction to any fishery,” Magee said.
The Pebble project is years away from production. The
earliest permitting applications would be filed would
be late 2008, he said, and more likely 2009. Given the
controversy surrounding the project, the permit process
could take three years, Magee said.
Brennan said, however, that Pebble was just “the
tip of the iceberg.”
There are more than 1,200 mining claims in the region
around Pebble, he said, and a million more acres the
Bureau of Land Management wants to open up to development.
Margaret Bauman can be reached at margie.bauman@alaskajournal.com.
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.
Web posted Sunday, October 15, 2006
Size of tailings dams sparks new concern
over Pebble
By Margaret Bauman
Alaska Journal of Commerce
Web posted Sunday, October 15, 2006
Still a long way from being cleared for take-off, the Pebble
Mine keeps edging toward the starting line, while opponents,
fearing environmental disaster, continue to challenge the project.
The proposed mine would sprawl over a huge area that includes
spawning waters for the famed commercial, sport and subsistence
fisheries of Southwest Alaska, including Bristol Bay. The area
is also home to the 120,000-plus Mulchatna caribou herd, plus
numerous moose, bear and other animals.
Opponents say the proposed mine would threaten the animals'
existence. Proponents disagree.
The latest volley of criticism comes in the wake of information
filed Aug. 26 with the Alaska Division of Mines, which noted
that the largest of the tailings dams to be built for the project
would be at least 4.3 miles long and in excess of 700 feet tall.
"They are big; they are very big," said Tom Crafford,
the state's large mine permitting manager. "This is the
first time those dam parameters have been formally submitted."
The largest of the proposed Pebble dams would, in fact, be
larger than the Three Gorges dam under construction in China,
which is the largest dam in the world.
"It would be two and a half times as high as the Captain
Cook Hotel," said Robin Samuelsen, president and chief
executive officer of the Bristol Bay Economic Development Corp.
in Dillingham. "This project is so huge that the board
of BBEDC is real worried about (possible effects on) the world-class
fisheries and wildlife resources that have sustained people
out here for thousands of years."
The Bristol Bay Native Association in Dillingham on Sept. 29
passed a resolution opposing all large-scale mining in the Bristol
Bay region until studies unequivocally prove there will be no
net loss to subsistence, commercial and sport users, or to the
region's land, air and water quality.
Northern Dynasty Mines Inc., the Canadian firm that would develop
the massive copper-gold-molybdenum deposit in Southwest Alaska,
argues the water rights permit applications, which have stirred
up a storm of protest, are just another small step in the process.
All the Vancouver-based company is seeking right now is to have
those applications accepted as complete, said Bruce Jenkins,
chief operating officer for the mine project.
The size and height of the huge dams that would be part of
the mining operation is nothing new, according to Jenkins. "We've
been discussing the size and height of the dams in community
meetings," he said.
Beyond that, Jenkins said, the area is designated for mineral
exploration and development. "We look forward to that development,
and no one has the right to deny us that due process. It is
our job to put the project together and show it is a good project,"
he said.
Crafford acknowledged that his agency's only current decision
regarding the water rights permit application, including the
dam projects, would be to determine whether the application
was complete. "We will not act on this until such time
as we receive applications on the rest of the project,"
he said.
"What typically happens, what kicks off the process for
a mine such as this, would be an application for a national
pollution discharge elimination system, under the (federal)
Clean Water Act, Section 402," he said.
Crafford also said the huge dam would be built in stages. "That
dam would probably be raised 15 or 20 times," he said.
"It just doesn't make sense to spend all that money up
front to build the dam that big off the get-go, and beyond the
economic issue, the idea is that you generate the material with
which to build the dam during the mining process. The dam will
be largely constructed of waste materials generated during the
mining process."
Glen Alsworth Sr., mayor of the Lake and Peninsula Borough,
meanwhile has asked that the state suspend processing applications
from Northern Dynasty to construct tailings dams within the
Koktuli River drainage.
Crafford, who has not yet responded to Alsworth, said "The
state is not processing these applications at this point in
time, and the applicant does not want us to process the applications
at this point in time, and they've said as much. What they want
is to have their application in the queue."
"It is hard to comprehend the scale of these dams,"
Alsworth said. "The dam downstream on the South Fork Koktuli
is higher than the Hoover Dam or the Grand Coulee Dam. Risk
to downstream resources is dependent on many variables, but
one of them is the size of the dam."
Alsworth said later, in an interview, that such a project should
meet standards of the federal Environmental Protection Act,
and that people in Southwest Alaska, who depend culturally and
economically on these natural resources, are worried about who
will enforce these strict environmental standards. "We
need to make sure the standards are met and exceeded,"
he said.
"There is a great fear of the water being polluted and
the fish being killed, and that triggers a fear of degradation
of subsistence, and a loss of the isolation and independence
that makes us unique.
"One thing leads to another," Alsworth said. "All
over America and all over the world, we have examples of colossal
failure of mines, of people's lives being affected.
"We don't have to repeat it," he said.
Another issue raised by mine opponents is the potential for
disaster should an earthquake cause damage to one of the huge
dams.
According to reports written by Knight Piesold Consulting for
Northern Dynasty, the dams could withstand the maximum ground
acceleration they could experience from an earthquake in the
area.
"This is not necessarily what the state would determine
is adequate," Crafford said. Once the state starts its
actual review of the application, almost certainly the state
would go out and acquire high-powered consultants to compile
an engineering review, he said. Typically the state hires the
consultants and the (mining) company has to pay the consultants'
bill, he said. "Part of the process of selecting these
consultants is to make sure they don't have any conflict of
interest."
According to Jenkins, the entire Pebble project application
process won't be complete until about 2008, because the company
still hasn't finalized the total mine concept, due to relatively
new information on the Pebble East portion of the claim.
The state won't decide on this until the full permit application
is submitted, so there is nothing to be afraid of, he said.
The critical response to date speaks of the ignorance of a
small, outspoken minority about the permitting process, he said.
"There is plenty of opportunity for them, during the formal
permitting process, when they will have to defend what they
say.
"They will have to marshal their science and their engineering,
and then you will see the weakness of their positions."
Jenkins said.
Critics like Samuelsen, whose family has lived in the Bristol
Bay region for generations, aren't buying that.
"Most people in Bristol Bay are for small-scale mining,
like we've had out here in the past," Samuelsen said. "This
is going to have major social and economic impacts, with consequences
for hundreds of years. People are really scared out here. Our
salmon will be worthless if they are polluted salmon."
Dick Jameson, president of the Renewable Resources Coalition,
also disagrees with waiting to protest the mine. "People
are overwhelmingly opposed to the development," he said.
"They are opposed to any large-scale mining development
in the area.
"Clearly they've started the permitting process,"
he said. "It's irksome that they keep saying wait and see
until we file for permits. It is time for people to start reviewing
what their plans are. We think it's our job to make sure the
public is aware of what their plans actually entail."
Margaret Bauman can be reached at margie.bauman@alaskajournal.com.
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
MINE: Largest of the earthen structures would
stand taller than Hoover, Grand Coulee.
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
Critics of the proposed Pebble mine are assailing the credibility
of the company pushing the project, Northern Dynasty. In response,
the company says the seeming contradictions in some of its public
statements can be explained -- if you know the whole story.
As the two sides blast each other, there's a lesson for Alaskans.
When it comes to Northern Dynasty's promises about the project,
you have to read the fine print.
The rhetorical sparring broke out when Northern Dynasty filed
for water rights to Upper Talarik Creek.
The move appeared to contradict earlier pledges.
A 2004 Daily News article quoted Northern Dynasty chief operating
office Bruce Jenkins: "I said leave Upper Talarik Creek
alone." A 2005 article in the Kenai Peninsula Clarion quoted
the project's environmental manager: "We made a commitment
to stay out of the Upper Talarik Creek because it is sensitive
fish habitat."
If that's true, why did the company file for water rights to
the creek?
All along, "leave alone" and "stay out"
meant the company wouldn't put its tailings pond in the watershed,
according to Mr. Jenkins. The company has drilled test holes
in the watershed the past four years, he says, and for the past
year and a half its plans have shown a road and transmission
lines, even part of the mine pit, in the Upper Talarik area.
"We are not staying out of Upper Talarik Creek entirely,"
Mr. Jenkins says, but the other proposed facilities are in only
a "tiny portion" of the drainage.
Then there's the matter of using cyanide to enhance mineral
recovery. That possibility worries Pebble's critics, since cyanide
has created big contamination issues at other mines around the
world.
Mr. Jenkins said no cyanide would be used at the mine, according
to a Daily News article in 2004.
Critics charge the company is reneging on that promise.
Not so, says Mr. Jenkins. From Day 1, he says, what the company
said was that it would not use a particular cyanide technique
known as heap leach extraction. According to Mr. Jenkins, "We've
consistently said in the last year and a half, one of the alternatives
is to use cyanide in an in-mill, closed-circuit system."
However, he notes no decision has been made on that option.
The company and critics have a similar dispute over whether
or not Northern Dynasty ever said there were no fish in the
lake it might use for its tailings pond. "Of course there
are fish there," Mr. Jenkins says. The quote in question,
he says, was taken out of context. He was talking about salmon
and was saying the lake is not critical salmon habitat.
There's a pattern here that concerns critics. They wonder if
they can rely on what Northern Dynasty says. They are concerned
that they're told, "Don't worry, that won't be a problem,"
and then plans could change and it might turn out there is something
they need to worry about.
"Just as importantly," Mr. Jenkins says, "the
opposite can be true. What critics might think is a concern
can turn out not to be a concern."
He urges Alaskans to withhold judgment until the project is
designed and the company applies for all its permits. "A
fair process is all I'm after," he says.
When that work is done, Alaskans should take a close look at
the fine print. So far, Pebble looks like an environmentally
disruptive project that doesn't belong in the state's most productive
wild-salmon watershed. The seeming contradictions in Northern
Dynasty's pledges, and the company's clarifications, do not
help dispel Alaskans' concerns.
BOTTOM LINE: Has Northern Dynasty broken promises about the
Pebble mine? No, says the company, not when you know the whole
story.
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.
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