Lead Story - Boston Globe Editorial
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.
Two Pollsters find 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 >>>
TWO POLLS SHOW MOST ALASKANS
OPPOSE PEBBLE MINE
RRC's Public Awareness Campaign Makes Big
Difference
Anchorage – Two new public opinion polls show that Alaskans
statewide, and particularly those who live in Bristol Bay and
the Lake and Peninsula Borough, overwhelmingly oppose the proposed
Pebble Mine. The first survey, commissioned by the Renewable
Resources Coalition (RRC) and conducted by Hellenthal &
Associates, asked 400 registered voters in the Bristol Bay Region
whether they favored or opposed the proposed open pit gold and
copper mine being proposed for the area. The second survey of
607 voters statewide, also paid for by RRC, was conducted by
The Cromer Group of Washington, DC. Key findings of the Hellenthal
survey include:
-Overall opposition to the proposed Pebble Mine is 70.6 percent,
with 20.7 percent favoring and 8.7 percent undecided
-In the larger population centers, the proposed mine development
has the most opposition in Dillingham/Aleknagik (79.6 percent
opposed, 15.1 percent favor and 5.3 percent undecided) and the
least opposition in King Salmon/Naknek (50.4 percent opposed,
43.3 percent favor and 6.2 percent undecided)
-Bristol Bay Native Corporation households oppose at 71.9 percent,
with 17 percent in favor and 11.2 percent undecided
-Native corporation or tribal government households oppose
at 73.8 percent, 17.6 percent favor and 8.6 percent undecided
-Respondents with post college education oppose at 83.5 percent,
12.6 percent in favor and 3.8 percent undecided
-Alaska Native respondents are more opposed (75.2 percent oppose,
15.3 percent favor and 9.5 percent undecided)
“The Alaskans living downstream from the proposed Pebble
Mine have evaluated Northern Dynasty’s plans, weighed the
pros and cons and decided open pit mining is not worth the risk,”
said Scott Brennan, chief operating officer of RRC. “We
believe local residents, not Canadian corporate executives should
decide our state’s future. It is time for all Alaskans
to join Bristol Bay in rejecting this ill-advised project.”
The Hellenthal & Associates survey was conducted between
Oct. 11-18, 2006. At a 95 percent confidence level, the random
digit survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percent.
Key findings from The Cromer Group survey include:
-53 percent of voters statewide say they are opposed to the
opening of Pebble Mine, 28 percent are in favor and 19 percent
are undecided
-While about half of all men are opposed, four of every seven
women are opposed
-A majority of voters in all party affiliations oppose the
mine (Democrats: 62 percent oppose, Republicans: 61 percent
oppose and Independents: 49 percent oppose)
-Half of all voters feel Pebblie Mine is a threat to Alaska’s
quality of life (Anchorage: 56 percent, Southeast: 62 percent)
-Fifty-six percent feel the mine poses an environmental threat
to the water quality in Bristol Bay and 61 percent agree that
the damage from Pebble mine will forever threaten the subsistence
way of life in the mine area
-Sixty-eight percent agree that “open pit mines and wild
salmon just don’t mix.”
-Sixty four percent are in favor of halting Pebble Mine because
Northern Dynasty promised the state they wouldn’t touch
Upper Talarik Creek, but then later applied for the rights to
the water that is the spawning ground for Bristol Bay’s
salmon and trout
The Cromer Group’s statewide survey used random digit
dialing to interview 607 registered voters in six key regions
of the state – Southeast, Kenai Peninsula, Mat-Su Valley,
Fairbanks and rural Alaska. The survey, which was conducted
Sept. 25-Sept. 27, has a 95 percent confidence level, plus or
minus 4 percent.
Contact:
Mark Hellenthal, Hellenthal & Associates, (907) 276-1001
William Cromer, The Cromer Group, (202) 544-0284
TWO POLLS SHOW MOST ALASKANS
OPPOSE PEBBLE MINE
RRC's Public Awareness Campaign Makes Big
Difference
Anchorage – Two new public opinion polls show that Alaskans
statewide, and particularly those who live in Bristol Bay and
the Lake and Peninsula Borough, overwhelmingly oppose the proposed
Pebble Mine. The first survey, commissioned by the Renewable
Resources Coalition (RRC) and conducted by Hellenthal &
Associates, asked 400 registered voters in the Bristol Bay Region
whether they favored or opposed the proposed open pit gold and
copper mine being proposed for the area. The second survey of
607 voters statewide, also paid for by RRC, was conducted by
The Cromer Group of Washington, DC. Key findings of the Hellenthal
survey include:
-Overall opposition to the proposed Pebble Mine is 70.6 percent,
with 20.7 percent favoring and 8.7 percent undecided
-In the larger population centers, the proposed mine development
has the most opposition in Dillingham/Aleknagik (79.6 percent
opposed, 15.1 percent favor and 5.3 percent undecided) and the
least opposition in King Salmon/Naknek (50.4 percent opposed,
43.3 percent favor and 6.2 percent undecided)
-Bristol Bay Native Corporation households oppose at 71.9 percent,
with 17 percent in favor and 11.2 percent undecided
-Native corporation or tribal government households oppose
at 73.8 percent, 17.6 percent favor and 8.6 percent undecided
-Respondents with post college education oppose at 83.5 percent,
12.6 percent in favor and 3.8 percent undecided
-Alaska Native respondents are more opposed (75.2 percent oppose,
15.3 percent favor and 9.5 percent undecided)
“The Alaskans living downstream from the proposed Pebble
Mine have evaluated Northern Dynasty’s plans, weighed the
pros and cons and decided open pit mining is not worth the risk,”
said Scott Brennan, chief operating officer of RRC. “We
believe local residents, not Canadian corporate executives should
decide our state’s future. It is time for all Alaskans
to join Bristol Bay in rejecting this ill-advised project.”
The Hellenthal & Associates survey was conducted between
Oct. 11-18, 2006. At a 95 percent confidence level, the random
digit survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percent.
Key findings from The Cromer Group survey include:
-53 percent of voters statewide say they are opposed to the
opening of Pebble Mine, 28 percent are in favor and 19 percent
are undecided
-While about half of all men are opposed, four of every seven
women are opposed
-A majority of voters in all party affiliations oppose the
mine (Democrats: 62 percent oppose, Republicans: 61 percent
oppose and Independents: 49 percent oppose)
-Half of all voters feel Pebblie Mine is a threat to Alaska’s
quality of life (Anchorage: 56 percent, Southeast: 62 percent)
-Fifty-six percent feel the mine poses an environmental threat
to the water quality in Bristol Bay and 61 percent agree that
the damage from Pebble mine will forever threaten the subsistence
way of life in the mine area
-Sixty-eight percent agree that “open pit mines and wild
salmon just don’t mix.”
-Sixty four percent are in favor of halting Pebble Mine because
Northern Dynasty promised the state they wouldn’t touch
Upper Talarik Creek, but then later applied for the rights to
the water that is the spawning ground for Bristol Bay’s
salmon and trout
The Cromer Group’s statewide survey used random digit
dialing to interview 607 registered voters in six key regions
of the state – Southeast, Kenai Peninsula, Mat-Su Valley,
Fairbanks and rural Alaska. The survey, which was conducted
Sept. 25-Sept. 27, has a 95 percent confidence level, plus or
minus 4 percent.
Contact:
Mark Hellenthal, Hellenthal & Associates, (907) 276-1001
William Cromer, The Cromer Group, (202) 544-0284
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."
Unlikely backlash smacks B.C.
firm's Alaska plan
Northern Dynasty takes heat over gold, copper
megaproject
BARRIE MCKENNA , Globe & Mail, Toronto, Canada,
August 18, 2006
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060818.RPEBBLE18/TPStory/
WASHINGTON -- Alaska has had a long love affair with resource
extraction -- from 19th-century gold rushes to the oil of Prudhoe
Bay and the dense forests of the Panhandle.
No scheme has ever been too big or too ambitious to tempt Alaskans,
eager for a piece of the next rush for its vast resources.
Suddenly, however, a grandiose mining scheme planned by a tiny
B.C. company has stirred up a surprising environmental backlash
in this last frontier of the United States.
Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd., a Vancouver-based junior mining
company with deep-pocketed backers, wants to build what would
be one of the largest open pit copper and gold mines in the
world in a remote patch of Alaska near salmon-rich Bristol Bay,
500 kilometres west of Anchorage. Extensive testing has convinced
the company there may be nearly six billion tonnes of copper,
gold and molybdenum, worth as much as $150-billion (U.S.), at
its Pebble mine site.
Most of those deposits sit tantalizingly near the surface
for easy extraction, and it's ready to invest as much as $2.5-billion
to get at them.
And yet, even as most Alaskans have heartily embraced other
planned megaprojects, including drilling for oil in the Alaska
National Wildlife Refuge and a massive natural gas pipeline
across the state, the Pebble mine has become a source of unusual
controversy.
Some powerful and notoriously pro-development politicians are
already lining up against the project, including the state's
U.S. Senator Ted Stevens, Tony Knowles, a former governor who's
vying to be the Democratic pick in this year's gubernatorial
contest, as well as the state's largest newspaper, the Anchorage
Daily News. Even Governor Frank Murkowski, who has dedicated
his long political career to exploiting the state's resources,
has raised concerns about some of the deeper open pit mining
that may occur at the site.
Opponents say the controversy has drilled into a critical shift
in attitudes among Alaskans about the kind of development they
want for their state in the years ahead.
"This state has never had anything on the scale of the
Pebble mine," said Scott Brennan, who heads the Renewable
Resources Coalition, which is running statewide TV ads critical
of the project.
Sure, there's more than a century of colourful mining history
in Alaska, but people have "no experience" with the
kind of large scale, open pit, hard rock mining that Pebble
would be, he explained.
"People in Alaska are waking up to the scale of this mine,"
he said, noting that numerous mining claims now surround Northern
Dynasty's claims. "Pebble is the tip of the iceberg."
Mr. Knowles, the gubernatorial candidate, warned recently that
the Pebble mine "would put a dagger through the heart of
Bristol Bay."
Northern Dynasty said the opposition is being stirred up by
one man -- Robert Gillam, a wealthy money manager with a private
fishing retreat in the area and a bevy of powerful friends.
"Right now, the forces that are against this mine are
led by one guy who's financing all this," said Ronald Thiessen,
Northern Dynasty's president and chief executive officer. "People
are going out there saying things to stir the wildest imaginations."
Mr. Brennan acknowledged that Mr. Gillam founded and bankrolled
the Renewable Resources Coalition, which is dedicated to preserving
hunting and fishing habitats across the state.
But he insisted opposition to the Pebble mine is large, genuine
and growing. Outfitters, commercial fishermen and native groups
say the project threatens a multimillion-dollar industry by
putting at risk the headwaters of two major fish-spawning river
basins that feed Bristol Bay.
The group also says the unsightly mine would mar the state's
image as the "last pristine wilderness in America,"
an area with an abundance of moose, caribou and bear.
"[Senator Stevens] is very concerned that development
will harm the salmon stocks," explained Lindsay Hayes,
the senator's communications director. "Until there is
a plan in place that complies with the law and protects the
salmon in the area, Senator Stevens will oppose this project."
Mr. Thiessen said Northern Dynasty has known since 2001, when
it acquired an option on the mine from Teck Cominco Ltd., that
the project's impact would be significant. That's why the company
has been diligently doing its homework, spending $27-million
over the past two years, or 40 per cent of its expenditures,
to conduct environmental impact and socio-economic studies,
he said.
He complained that the environmental threats are exaggerated.
The company plans to complete an environmental impact study
by late 2007 and launch the permitting process in 2008.
"We're not looking at fast-tracking the timing and we're
not looking to push anyone into a decision," Mr. Thiessen
said.
Some analysts have suggested that Teck, which discovered the
site in the late 1980s, opted to sell out to Northern Dynasty
only after concluding that the hurdles of getting such a large
mine approved could prove insurmountable.
That hasn't deterred Northern Dynasty, whose only major asset
is the Pebble mine claim. It has attracted worldwide interest
in the project, recently selling a 9.9-per-cent stake in the
company for $78-million to Australian mining powerhouse Rio
Tinto PLC. That, analysts said, is a clear sign that the company
has the staying power to see the project through.
"The company has the situation fairly well in hand,"
said a Toronto-based mining analyst, who declined to be named.
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.
CLARKS POINT VILLAGE COUNCIL VOTES UNANIMOUSLY
TO OPPOSE MINING AND NON-RENEWABLE DEVELOPMENT IN BRISTOL BAY
REGION
RRC Press Release
May 16, 2006
ANCHORAGE, AK - The Clarks Point Village Council has voted unanimously
to oppose any large-scale mining including the proposed Pebble
Copper/Gold mine within its watershed. Clarks Point is a community
of 65 people, located at the northeast point of the Nushagak
River. It started as a fish camp for Yupik people, and grew
into a village after Nushagak Packing Company started a cannery
there in the late 1880s. The village is not connected by any
roads and residents primarily live a subsistence lifestyle.
"The non-renewable development that is being proposed for
our area is a serious threat to our livelihoods that rely on
fishing, hunting, berry and plant collecting," said the
resolution. "We are at the heart of the fishery in the
Nushagak River and rely on a healthy environment to survive."
Clarks Point also cited the fresh water seal habitat at Lake
Clark and the unique cultures, languages, spirituality and traditional
values that have been the backbone of this area's existence
for many generations as reasons to oppose non-renewable development
in the region.
-more-
The list of individuals and groups opposing or voicing concern
over the mine continues to grow. It includes Alaska's U.S. Senator
Ted Stevens, the National Wildlife Federation, American Rivers,
the Alaska Intertribal Council. Safari Club International, Rocky
Mountain Elk Association and Trout Unlimited. Six villages affected
in the Bristol Bay drainage have passed resolutions in opposition
to Pebble Mine including Dillingham, New Stuyhok, Koliganek,
Nondalton, Ekwok and Clarks Point.
A copy of the Clarks Point Village Council resolution which
was adopted April 27, 2006, with a vote of 9 in favor and none
opposed, can be viewed along with other village resolutions
at www.renewableresourcescoalition.org/scoreboard.htm.
MINING NEWS: Northern Dynasty
strikes back on Pebble
http://www.petroleumnews.com/pnads/125965141.shtml
After fending off an attempt in the Legislature to slow down
Pebble project, mining company will spend $40 million in 2006
Sarah Hurst For Mining News
Providing coverage of Alaska and northern Canada's oil and gas
industryApril 2006
Vol. 11, No. 17
Week of April 23, 2006
The world will need the equivalent of 28 more discoveries the
size of Alaska’s Pebble deposit by the year 2016 if demand
for copper continues at the current rate. That’s the powerful
message from Vancouver-based Northern Dynasty, Pebble’s
developer, part of the company’s effort to rebut the wave
of attacks on the project spearheaded by environmentalists,
lodge-owners and U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens. Alaska’s senior
senator has said he might be more sympathetic to Pebble if it
were going to produce an “essential commodity.”
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, even if they are wrong,
Northern Dynasty’s chief operating officer, Bruce Jenkins
told a large crowd at an Alaska Miners Association lunch in
Anchorage April 12. “That doesn’t entitle you to use
misinformation or blatant lies or propaganda to force or scare
other people into sharing your view before all the facts are
on the table, before, in fact, the project’s even defined,
and that’s what we’re dealing with now,” Jenkins
said. “We deal with this in every jurisdiction for all
of our projects, none of this is a surprise to us, but there
are some tactics that are being employed that are, let me just
say, are less than honorable.”
As an example of some of the misinformation being spread about
the project, Jenkins mentioned that an opponent of Pebble had
suggested that a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier would be required
to lay the submarine cable that would provide power to the mine.
“I don’t know where this comes from, but I can assure
you that a 45-mile submarine cable across Cook Inlet could be
installed within a week, from the ships that actually go to
the cable manufacturing plant and get (it) wound on a spool,”
Jenkins said.
In the past four years Northern Dynasty has spent $72 million
on the Pebble project, of which $28 million went to environmental
studies and community relations, $26 million to drilling and
$18 million to engineering. The budget for 2006 is $40 million,
of which approximately $15-$16 million will be spent on environment
and community relations, according to Jenkins. The company
is looking at its 26th mine development concept and won’t
submit permit applications until 2008 at the earliest. In
that case production might begin in 2013 or 2014.
There is no guarantee that the project will get through the
rigorous permitting process and it is a very high-risk investment,
Jenkins stressed. “Notwithstanding the controversy surrounding
our project, these are just preliminary skirmishes,” he
said. “They’re not that important in the overall scheme
of things because the real debate will be in the public permitting
process where you’ll be held accountable for what you say
and you’ll be expected to defend what you say, for or against
the project, and I welcome that debate.”
Pebble East could add 20-30 years to mine life
The politics of the project haven’t diminished Northern
Dynasty’s excitement about its recent Pebble East find,
a much richer and deeper deposit than the original Pebble West
deposit, which would be mined by open pit methods. The company
intends to continue drilling Pebble East with the goal of fully
delineating the zone by the end of this year. Pebble East could
potentially add another 20 or 30 years to the existing 30- or
40-year mine life, according to Jenkins.
Northern Dynasty is considering the block caving method
for underground mining of the Pebble East deposit. Controlled
failure of the ore would take place underground, with gravity
causing the rock to fracture, tumble down and cave in at a chosen
location, from where it could be mucked out and sent up to the
surface by conveyor belt. As part of the feasibility
work for Pebble East, Northern Dynasty may file permit applications
in 2007 to sink an exploration shaft into the deposit, a project
that could cost around $150 million by itself.
“We have deep pockets, we’re here to stay, and
no amount of controversy’s going to scare us back to Canada,” Jenkins said. Northern Dynasty hopes to form a consortium to
develop Pebble with perhaps two or more major mining and smelting
companies. This has been done at several other large mines,
including Antamina in Peru (owned by BHP Billiton, Falconbridge,
Teck Cominco and Mitsubishi) and Collahuasi in Chile (owned
by Anglo American, Falconbridge and Mitsui-Nippon).
(emphasis added)
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
March 9, 2006 Dillingham, Alaska
The Choggiung Limited Board of Directors voted unanimously at
its March 7 board meeting to oppose open pit mining in the Bristol
Bay Region in response to results from a recent shareholder
advisory vote conducted on the issue.
According to Chariman Bryce Edgmon, “The board did not
arrive at the decision lightly. But in the end, we followed
the advise of our shareholders who told us to put our subsistence
way of life and our world class fisheries first and foremost.”
Edgmon also went on to say, “We strongly support economic
development and jobs for our communities. But as fellow stakeholders,
we cannot support an industry that will, in some form or another,
be destructive to the incredible natural environment in Bristol
Bay.”
The board also passed a resolution saying that Choggiung not
only opposes the development of open pit mining in the Bristol
Bay Region, but it also plans to actively oppose any claim that
large scale mining can safely coexist with the nearby waterways
that are home to the world’s largest sockeye fishery.
Choggiung Ltd represents the villages of Dillingham, Ekuk and
Portage Creek comprising over 1650 shareholders and is the largest
Native Village corporation in the Bristol Bay Region
For More Info: Contact Lance Nunn at 907-842-5218
--Text Excerpted From Attached Press Release: 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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