Pebble Statement

[johnsquires]

https://www.nrdc.org/experts/pebble-mine-check-out-our-ad-washington-post?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=socialmedia

[JasonB]

That says a lot, and does give me slight cause for hope and optimism. My fear right now is that with so many serious threats to our wild places that this particular fight might not have the sustained energy it might have under more normal circumstances, or that we end up doing some horrific deal to save one special place at the expense of others. Something like the agreement to trade Glen Canyon for the Grand Canyon. I hope my fears are proven wrong!

I have never been to any of the fine rivers of Bristol Bay, but I do have high hopes to someday. The small tidbits of Alaska that I have seen were special enough! As my Dad likes to say, “Alaska just gets in your blood, it becomes a part of who you are”. I have to say in my case, those words ring true.

Even if I am never able to realize those dreams, and even if I knew tha I would never have the chance to go myself, it concerns me deeply to imagine the loss of such a place. There just are not that many places like it left in the world today; in the last two generations alone we have dramatically impacted the natural world, to the substantial detriment of the plants, animals, fish, and ultimately ourselves. That trend of so called “growth” just isn’t sustainable forever. I sincerely hope my nieces and nephews will still have places like this to experience as they grow older, and that hopefully they might share those times with their children and grandchildren.
JB

[bigfly]

Well said Jason.........

[johnsquires]

Well said, Jason.
It would be another disservice to indigenous people to leave them out of the equation, and the same with nonindigenous people who make a living in this area, but, selfishly, one of the first things to cross my mind on this issue is a desire to have my children's children experience such a treasure firsthand, not only by looking at pictures.
I float rivers in this area every year. I can tell you the amount of Pebble activity in Iliamna currently (after the closed-door meeting with Pruitt) is alarming.
Everything in this area is connected in some manner, and a mishap in one small area affects many other areas. The Koktuli drains into the Mulchatna, which drains into the Nushagak. You can cut a bough off a tree by these rivers and find salmon DNA in it. A mishap affects the rivers, the fish, the insects, the birds and animals, like we have seen before.
I realize I'm biased, as are the Pebble folks. But one thing I think we all agree on is the toxic tailings would have to be monitored forever. "Forever" is a long time to go without a mishap.
I hope all of you can make it to this special piece of wilderness someday.

[gitt]

Northern Dynasty just found a new financier in First Quantum Minerals, the world's eighth-biggest copper producer, which will acquire an option to buy a 50 percent stake in the project for $1.5 billion. And so the permit process begins and what was once protected now goes to the highest bidder with the present administration's EPA head. I wonder if William Seward ever imagined this scenario when the Alaska purchase from Russia helped finance Russia's cash-strapped war machine after the Crimean War. The purchase price for “Seward's Icebox” was $7.2 million. At that time, that worked out to roughly 2 cents an acre. In today's dollars, Seward would have bought all of Alaska for around 30 cents an acre. Is it finally time to reap the benefits when apathy reigns supreme?

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/21/reuters-america-update-1-alaskas-pebble-mine-project-kicks-off-permitting-process.html

[johnsquires]

Interesting how these folks never look to see if there's oil or mineral deposits under golf courses or 5-star hotels. And even if they knew the deposits were there, those places would be off limits, I suspect. My point is, most of the folks in charge are not interested in and have never experienced the kinds of places they are endangering, so it means nothing to them to spoil such places. But if it were a resort, well, that's a different story. Hard to get them to care about a remote place filled with salmon and wild animals. Very sad and very, very inequitable. Tough times.