Eye on Pebble Mine.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has written a compelling piece for The Huffington Post that discusses the proposed Pebble Mine, a huge open-pit mine that would sit next to the world’s most pristine and productive salmon fishery. Pebble will mine gold, and copper. Copper, by the way, is highly toxic to fish. So, it’s basically a fish poison mine. Next to a critical and unspoiled fishery.
We in Alaska hear all kinds of messages about how the mine can be done safely, and that the corporations involved know what they’re doing, and they really promise that everything will be just fine. It’s those damn greenies and environmentalists who just want to lock away all our resources. Why, these companies would never dream of proceeding unless they were really pretty sure that nothing bad would happen to the fishery. Yes, they know that Bristol Bay seafood is responsible for half of the nations intake. Yes, they know that local Native people have relied on these salmon for millenia. Yes, they know about the commercial fishermen that rely on this fishery. That’s why they’re going to be really careful. Really, really careful.
So, if you were playing the odds, and you were betting on the fact that the mine would not violate clean water standards, and you did some research about how other mines of this type (although not as big) fared in keeping things clean? You’d be betting on an 11% chance. That’s 11% chance of NOT having a disaster. 89% of all mines of this type result in violations and contamination. What kind of risk takers do we want to be?
Will we risk our fishery, the nation’s seafood supply, the pristine waters of Bristol Bay, a subsistence lifestyle of people who have lived here for thousands of years, commercial fishing, and a sport fish tourism industry? Will we risk all this so foreign corporations can employ people for a few years, and then say “Oops! Sorry about that contamination!” We know exactly what would happen then. Think Exxon Valdez.
The Supreme Court was just nice enough after 20 years of litigation to tell us in no uncertain terms that they will side with corporations at the expense of fishermen. Exxon has gotten away with it, paying only $507.5 million of the original $5 billion in punitive damages, once they appealed. That same year (2008) Exxon Mobil posted $45.2 billion in profits, more than any other U.S. company in history. Attention Alaskans – This is the Supreme Court that Republicans have given us, and this is the court that will tell Anglo American and Northern Dynasty Minerals that they are more important than we are.
Is it worth it?
Incredibly, the global mining conglomerate Anglo American and its Canadian partner Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. (including Rio Tinto and Mitsubishi Corporation) have already invested hundreds of millions of dollars in a plan that would transform this magical Eden into an industrial wasteland. They want to build one of the world’s largest gold and copper mines in the heart of Bristol Bay’s watershed. Picture a gaping pit two miles wide and 2,000 feet deep, and an underground mine almost a mile deep near the shores of Lake Iliamna, the source that, with the Nushagak River to the north, feeds the entire 40,000-square mile watershed and Bristol Bay itself.
At Bristol Bay’s headwaters, the Pebble Mine will spew a witch’s brew of toxic waste — deadly acids from mineralized rock, contaminated leacheate from tailings piles, and the toxic residues from processing chemicals. The mining moguls will detonate thousands of tons of explosives to open the earth, build roads and trample thousands of acres of wilderness and wetland beneath giant vehicles. Project construction will permanently alter the region’s natural river drainage system, including de-watering an estimated 60 miles of spawning habitat in the world’s largest intact sockeye salmon streams. An 86-mile road will link the mine to a new deepwater industrial port in Cook Inlet, increasing ship traffic and port pollution and further pressuring the Inlet’s dwindling population of critically endangered beluga whales. The mine would also threaten beluga whales in Bristol Bay, who depend on the salmon runs for survival. The mine may produce up to 10 billion tons of waste and lethally poisonous mine tailings stored in artificial ponds covering over 10 square miles, behind several of the tallest dams in the world – earthen structures that dwarf even China’s concrete and steel Three Gorges Dam. The operation will require as much energy as Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city, exacerbating global warming.
The entire article is a must-read.
If your children’s school said that they were renting out the second floor to a sex-offender treatment program for pedophiles, and said “Don’t worry. We’ll keep an eye on them. We’re successful in other schools with an 11% success rate!” you’d doubtless have a problem with that.
So why would we want a fish poison mine next to our most treasured fishery?
And all those folks so eager to kill wolves from airplanes to keep our ungulate population numbers up so that hunters can go out and kill them…it isn’t just fish and people we are talking about here. What about the rest of the ecosystems that will be pillaged for this? What is next? All in the name of “progressin’ the state of Alaska.
I mentioned this a long time ago: DH is going to school and in one class, one of his instructors was talking about this dam that they intend to build. He said that if the thing ever broke (say–oh, maybe an earthquake????) it would release so much water that it might actually flood some of the Aleutians. Ah, yes, our very own manmade toxic tsunami. The instructor said that from what he has seen of the design of the dam he would NEVER advise anyone to work there. Too dangerous.
Oh yes! Hurrah for earthen dams! NOT!
I really am “fromthediagonal”… Florida that is, and posphate mines… and rainy seasons… and hurricanes… and polluted waters!
Now, back to Alaska… and a ring of fire’s fault lines… and an already overfished Northern Pacific!
This must not be permitted to be developed! It is wrong on so many levels!
And while you are thinking about it, head on over to anonymous bloggers and sign their petition about the Chuitna coal strip mine that they are trying to dig right across one of our salmon streams.
http://anonymousbloggers.wordpress.com/2010/03/24/there-ought-to-be-a-law-against-strip-mining-through-a-salmon-stream/
to lovemydogs: consider it done. Both my husband and I will sign the petition.
Is there one already going to Pebble Mine? Sure hope so – if so, I will sign it as well, plus write letters to whomever will make the decisions.
Thanks.
AKM……. a suggestion….
For people coming across your story….Can you Update your story with a link to
Robert F. Kennedy’s story on Huffpo.
If there is a hyper-link there …. I missed it.
Love that – puts it all in perspective!
“If your children’s school said that they were renting out the second floor to a sex-offender treatment program for pedophiles, and said “Don’t worry. We’ll keep an eye on them. We’re successful in other schools with an 11% success rate!” you’d doubtless have a problem with that.”
Not in my back yard !
HonestyinGov #5
Hyperlink is first line after Is it worth it?
Global Mining Comglomerate
I linked Kennedy’s Huffpost article to my Facebook page and encourage everyone to spread this near and far.
Yeah this is a disaster waiting to happen and I can’t believe how this is even a viable option.
This would affect the entire nation should there be a contamination disaster and it seems the corporations just care about the short to medium term.
11% success rate. Those are not good odds!
Thanks for the re-direct to the link Enjay in E MT.
By the time I got that far down into the story I wasn’t thinking about Kennedy because I was paragraphs past that and assumed in my mind the link was a reference to the mining company and read right past it.
I’m good now…. I think.
Is there a petition to stop Pebble Mine? If this is already a done deal then it’s a real travesty. These corporations just rape and pillage the earth while snickering all the way to the bank. Fines cannot repair scarring/poisoning the Earth.
Over fishing has already depleted the oceans so much and these guys just want to push depleting natural resources till when… extinction? Those fishies go bye bye, so do we.
dreamgirl, Natural Resources Defense Council has just such a petition, and will be delivering it to the shareholders meeting at Anglo-American in London on Earth Day. You’ll find it at http://www.stoppebble.org. If you don’t find it, go to http://www.nrdc.org, or http://www.savebiogems.org.
Health and peace.
We need to strengthen regulations, monitor and pay attention to ALL the resource development in Alaska!!
To see most of the attention go to just one mine really does NOT help the rest of the state with areas that are in as much danger as Bristol Bay is.
The public, and especially those in each area threatened, need to learn the DNR and DEC regulations that effect the development in their area. Ask questions. These departments work for US, as state cisitzens.
DEMAND from your legislators that these departments are reviewed, open to the public and answer questions we pose to them on the regulations.
Doing nothing but complaining and bringing up lawsuits are timely and expensive and not necessarily a dependable way to safeguard our assets.
Drop in and visit another blog that has more of a scientific view, but helps to TEACH us what questions to ask. If you are unsure, as the authors, they will answer!!
Here is the blog page– they discuss coal, Pebble, and a host of other dangers we face in Alaska..
http://www.groundtruthtrekking.org/blog/
Vic in Bristol Bay!!
You’re so right, ugavic! I’ve thought for years, and more especially since finding myself on the Mudflats over the past couple of them, that Alaska (like Brazil, and yes, I know one’s a state and one’s a country, but Alaska is country-size, with a human population the size of a city, and not a very large one) should develop an economy focused far more on tourism (especially eco-tourism) and far less on “resource development,” which up to now has meant drilling for oil or gas, mining, timber (cutting down those virgin forests, and that has to include Sealaska, which though native-owned, has been responsible for environmental degradation if not devastation), and industrial fishing (trawling), among others. Although a vegan myself, I have never, ever put down anyone who hunts or fishes for food for themselves and their families, and in a place where veggies grow for only a few months a year, and energy is so expensive, growing indoors or in greenhouses requires a tremendous outlay of cash, such hunting/fishing is practically the definition of “subsistence.” I’m a member of numerous environmental organizations (or if not a member, on their email action lists), yet despite my vegan ways, will never join PETA. The ethical treatment of animals should not include protecting non-native species that devastate their environments. Yet PETA opposed the removal of feral pigs from a nature preserve in Hawaii, because the only way to get rid of them was to kill them. The pigs ate every plant in sight, including rare native species, and no mammals are native to Hawaii–it’s too remote for mammals to have gotten there unless humans carried them in boats.
Health and peace, and thanks for the above link. I really enjoyed the read.
The company commercial, where the people who live there talk about how great the mine will be because it will give them a chance to make more money and have a better life, has an opposite effect on me, making me feel that they are a very selfish few people who could care less about the environment and fisheries that affect the rest of the nation and world if they can just have some MONEY. Bet they won’t be able to eat that money after the Bay is ruined.
RF Kennedy Jr.’s article has a petition to stop Pebble Mine. Here’s a direct link to the petition for anyone who didn’t see it at HuffPost:
https://secure.nrdconline.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1781&s_src=nrdchpa
The petition is addressed to the corporations. I’m confused about the status of the mine and wonder if there are still actions that can be taken to get the SOA to stop the frightening project.
I stand with you all on theMudflats. Here in the Yukon we are also opposing drilling in ANWR and the mining industry from destroying the Peel River Watershed.
Sometimes I’m glad my life is in its latter days…………and I am also so indescribably grateful my childhood was spent in the bush when things were not so bad yet.
Generations to come will have what? Holographic e-books of the nature they will have never seen and might not even care about? If they survive. But there is still time to fight the good fight, so tallyho!
As always, you have done a bang-up job of reporting!
AKM, just went to HP and signed the petition. Can you possibly link that petition to your article as well? Also do you know Brian Kraft? He posted on HP as being one of the 1st to try and educate people about this .
I truly hope there is some way to avert this mine from existing. Thanks for keeping us informed.
lovemydogs, signed that petition. Added a few words, too and also.
the potential destruction of any natural resource, especially a food source that provides sustenance for both humans as well as wildlife, should be a concern for all people the world over.
If there are any Europeans or world readers here, please don’t hesitate to sign these petitions. These types of Corporate pillaging need to be exposed worldwide and stopped. We only have one world. God ain’t making anymore, as far as I know of.
I think that John Shively and Mike Heatwole of Pebble, as well as the top executives and Directors of Dynasty and Anglo American, should sign a pledge of all of their personal and family assets, including future income, to go to repair any damage that the Pebble Mine causes, They don’t seem to have a problem asking the families of Bristol Bay to effectively do the same thing. If they are so sure, let them put their money where their mouths are.
@dreamgirl – Brian Kraft was one of the original Anchorage Aces Hockey team players, when the team was just getting started. He was a superstar at hockey. He also had a lodge/fishing business.
Just a quick thought.
Why is gold more important than food.
Which one keeps us alive?
@ 8 windpond – I’ve also linked to my FB page.
I have a question. I am a huge Dana Stabenow fan, and in her latest book, “A Night Too Dark”, a good bit of the action continues at a proposed gold mine. There are huge objections to the siting of the mine. The list is quite reminiscent of what is happening, it seems to me.
Does anyone else read these books? Does anyone else see this? Thanks!
Too many fisheries lost already. Not too many good ones left. Good that this is getting national attention.
Thanks to AKM for publishing this, and for linking to the HuffPo article. It seems like years — it IS years — that I’ve been protesting Pebble (do you think they gave it such a cute name to make it sound harmless?) and other disgustingly shortsighted projects around the globe. Mudpups (and hushpups): Stay Informed! Go to coalriver.org, riverkeeper.org, greenpeace.org, nrdc.org, oceana.org, organicconsumer.org, and every other environmental organization, local or global, and stay on top of what’s going on. It’s so easy to be involved in the age of information, especially with internet access. I remember having to write all of these letters by hand and mailing them. This is much more convenient, and it’s ever more important as the human population, with all its aspirations, grows and grows.
Alaska is still largely wild. We must all do what’s within our power to keep it that way. Extractive industries (mining, timber, trawling, etc.) are NOT a viable option for Alaska’s future. Tourism will fall off if the environment continues to be plundered. Thanks to everyone for doing your part, and I wish you and yours health and peace.
The Rio Algom/Exxon mine plan in Crandon, WI, lost its traction when the Native
people in the area really got into the act…along with Sierra Club, many others.
Not sure it is gone permanently as a possibility but think it didn’t happen for now.
Will do some checking. We had Republican governor, who was awful….Tommy Thompson,
HEW sec. for a while, but he was not insane, and while weird here, not quite as weird as
the AK power structure…
Just hoping…
If anyone would like to see what the various parts of a copper/gold mine look like, please input Bisbee, Arizona into Google Maps or Google Earth, and be sure to have the satellite view. I live just outside town, but work in Bisbee itself. Out my classroom window I can see the edge of one of the tailings piles found around here. It is over 100′ high, and fenced off. The town itself is built around the features of the various mines (now all closed), and thus the remainders are everywhere.
One can see the Lavender Pit, somewhere near 1000′ deep, and probably 3/4 mile in diameter. The tailings piles (there are several) are also measured in square miles, and are found within and to the south of town. Copper is why the city is here, and copper has been gone for years now. Originally, the ore was also smelted here, and lead in the soil is commonplace around town.
Cleanup is still ongoing, and it is now at least 20 years after full closure. Contractor crews drive around and take soil samples everywhere, and the city water is suspiciously ‘tasty,’ if one is allowed some levity. All the water is hard, and the city’s is more so, shall I say.
My point is this: all this activity, 100 years of mining, does not equal the scale or impact of the Pebble Mine. One hundred thirty years after the first mine opened here, we humans are still dealing with the poisonous impact of copper and gold mining in a DRY climate. What happens in a WET climate? Nothing good I can assure you. Let’s stop the Pebble Mine now, let’s help Alaska reclaim itself.
My small, copper-clad, 2 cents worth.
Great story. Good work.
Hunters and fishermen, protect the land that provides you with your sustenance, look for the Alaskan organizations that have come out against Pebble and Chuitna and for the long term health of our land and the daily bread it provides us.