State of Alaska Sues Lake & Peninsula Borough Over No Pebble Vote
Those darned uppity citizens. The Pebble Partnership already sued them once to keep an initiative off the local ballot. It didn’t work. The Save Our Salmon initiative on the Lake & Peninsula Borough ballot was recently passed by local residents near Bristol Bay. It will give the Borough and its residents the right to decide [...]
Bristol Bay Votes to “Save Our Salmon” from the Threat of Pebble Mine
Voters in the Lake and Peninsula Borough near Bristol Bay have had their say. After being blanketed with pro-Pebble mine propaganda telling residents that if the initiative passed it would jeopardize future projects like roads and airports and docks, the majority of the residents remain unconvinced. The Pebble Partnership has stated repeatedly that if [...]
Mudflix – Bristol Bay and the Threat of Pebble Mine
Seven minutes and 23 seconds. This is one of the best short videos I have seen on the proposed Pebble Mine. It’s a fantastic tool for those who are not familiar with the issue, and even though I am, I found it riveting. Interviews with local residents at the end are wonderful, and moving. The [...]
Pebble Mine and the Foreign Fox in Alaska’s Legal Hen House
By Shannyn Moore We take the 49th star on our nation’s flag for granted. That was a hard fight, and statehood wasn’t won on the first pass or even the second. The tipping point and fuel came in large part from the “We-don’t-like-being-bossed-around-by-outsiders” attitude of Alaskans. It’s a bit ironic when we look at ourselves [...]
Actor’s Disappointing Role: Pebble Shill
By Shannyn Moore As much time as we spend watching movies, it’s easy to believe that actors take jobs because they identify with some part of a film. The wool was ripped from my eyes this week. I’ve watched actor Wes Studi in films for years — “Geronimo,” “Dances with Wolves” and “Avatar,” to name [...]
Supreme Court Allows “No Pebble Mine” Initiative on Ballot
The Alaska Supreme Court yesterday delivered some much needed good news. Yesterday in a 3-1 ruling, the court upheld a previous court’s ruling that the residents of the Lake and Peninsula Borough, should be allowed to vote on a ballot initiative in October. The initiative would restrict permitting of any large extraction project that could [...]
Parnell and Pebble Try to Silence Alaskans
I will argue with people about voting. More vehemently if they don’t vote than if they vote for someone different than me. No, candidates aren’t all the same, and it’s a form of freeloading if you don’t vote. If democracy were a religion, voting would be the sacrament. Alaskans have an amazing record of being [...]
State of Alaska Supports Pebble Partnership’s Attempt to Silence Alaskans
~The original Captain Zero Before I go off on some rant about how my forefathers fought the British to birth a country that could VOTE, and how siding with the British to take away the right of Americans to vote should be called treason, I’ll take a deep breath and explain a few things. Since [...]
The King (Salmon) is Dead. Long Live the Mine.
[Photo by Nick Hall] Five million viewers (I’m choosing not to think of allof them as fans) tuned in to watch “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” on The Learning Channel this month. But as we know, there’s more to Alaska than harassing bears, and clubbing halibut between the eyes. Many, I’m sure, were taken with Alaska’s spectacular [...]
Pebble Mine – The Trojan Horse
Pebble Mine is a Trojan Horse from Renewable Resources Coalition on Vimeo. Here is a great video from Renewable Resources Coalition about the proposed Pebble Mine project that is threatening the largest wild salmon fishery on Earth, and some of Alaska’s most important pristine wilderness. When people think of environmental issues in Alaska, they tend [...]
Voices from the Flats – Truth and Consequences on the Last Frontier
Professor Rick Steiner who, since before the Exxon Valdez disaster has been known as a critic of the oil industry and a defender of marine conservation, has resigned from the University of Alaska. The university had stripped him of a NOAA grant because of his outspoken opposition to offshore oil development in the Bristol Bay [...]
More Jewelers Boycott Pebble Mine’s “Dirty Gold”
The world’s most famous jeweler, Tiffany & Co. is leading the charge of jewelers against the Pebble Mine project in southwest Alaska, which threatens to put a huge open pit gold mine smack in the middle of the largest wild salmon fishery in the world. Obviously Tiffany & Co. likes gold, and certainly isn’t opposed [...]
Intrigue in Bristol Bay. (I Want Tim Griffin’s Frequent Flier Miles)
Where to begin? Very fitting, considering it’s Muckraker Day, that we should be given what is the equivalent of two enormous entrees of ….. muck from two superior muckrakers. They’re both so appetizing it’s hard to know which to choose first. (closes eyes, moves index finger in wide circles….and…..squish!) OK, we’ll start with this one. One [...]
Bits and Pieces and Catching Up…
There’s a passage from the Lewis Carroll poem The Walrus and the Carpenter that seems to sum up the last couple of days. If you substitute “things AKM wanted to blog about” in place of “oysters” it’s right on the money. Four other Oysters followed them, And yet another four; And thick and fast they [...]
U of A Professor Loses Federal Grant Money for Being Too Mavericky.
The first time I heard Univeristy of Alaska professor Rick Steiner speak was in 2006. He gave a brilliant and passionate presentation entitled “War and the Environment,” and was preparing to travel to the Niger Delta to participate in a damage assessment of the world’s most severely petroleum-impacted ecosystem. Whatever area of the brain houses the little part [...]
