Pebble Mine

Shit, it's been way to long and I've got a lot of rabblin' pent up in me so I'm going to educate you all on the wonderful (read, completely fucked up) proposed Pebble Mine in Southwest Alaska.  Hope you packed a lunch.

The Pebble Mine has the potential to create the largest environmental disaster in recent history but the mine is not yet a reality.  It has still to be dug so, in theory, there is still a chance to save Alaska from the horror it will inflict.  A Canadian company, Northern Dynasty has proposed to build what would be one of the very largest mines in the world.  They want to dig for gold and copper.  The is mining for gold and copper involves extremely toxic chemicals like arsenic, cyanide, sulfuric acid and heavy metals like lead and mercury.  All those chemicals are dangerous and potentially deadly to humans and critters.  They propose to build a giant toxic lake to contain the mine tailings.  This lake would cover 20 square miles and be held back by the largest dam in North America.  Take a second and think about how fucking retardedly enormous that is.  It gets better.  They want to construct the mine at the headwaters of the Koktuli River and Upper Talarik Creek, among others.  These waterways feed Lake Illiamna and the Nushagak River and eventually find their way to Bristol Bay.  The Bristol Bay region harbor the greatest fisheries on the planet.  Five species of pacific salmon, rainbow trout, Arctic Char, Dolly Varden, Grayling and more call these rivers, lakes and creeks home.  Bristol Bay is a wild and pristine stronghold for animals and fish of all kinds.  Now what happens when those ultra toxic mine tailings leak into the surrounding rivers and lakes?  What happens when the dam fails (Bristol Bay is a very seismically active part of the world)?  All that shit flows downstream and kills everything in its path.  No more salmon, trout, whatever.  All gone, for some jewelery.  Really.  Fuck that.  A Pebble Mine disaster would make the Gulf Oil spill look like a couple oil spots on your driveway.  The Pebble Mine has the potential to destroy millions of fish and render the surrounding environment sterile.  Besides the environmental impact the economic impact is huge.  The reality is the fisheries in Bristol Bay, both commercial and recreational, are far more valuable than the minerals the mine would yield.  25 million salmon are harvested from Bristol Bay commercially each year.  Those are salmon that you buy at the store.  You think salmon is expensive now?  After the Pebble Mine leaks shit all over the region how much do you think a salmon fillet will go for?  The amount of money generated by the entire Bristol Bay fishery is $400 million a year.  And that's every year.  The mine might produce more money for a short period of time but it is not sustainable.  For the hardcore economist the best part is that the state of Alaska gets basically no benefit from the whole operation.  Oil royalties for the state are 10%.  Mining royalties are 1%.  All the money gets funneled into Northern Dynasty.  Even though the mine is still in planning stages Northern Dynasty has spent millions on a PR campaign to show the mine in a good light.  Northern Dynasty would like you to know that the Pebble Mine would create jobs and bring money into a far flung region of the country already battling poverty, poor education and a harsh environment.  People would be much better off with the mine in their backyards.  In reality it will ruin the way of life Alaskan have carved out for themselves, often far away from everything else for a reason.  The bottom line in this piece of the puzzle is that Northern Dynasty is full of shit and will tell the populous anything to get them on their side.  Polls show however, that 75%+ of the native population is against the Pebble Mine construction.  That may not matter though because money talks and Northern Dynasty has plenty to spend.  Oh, yeah, and Sarah Palin had a great chance to stop the mine in its tracks but didn't.  Shes came out against an Alaska state bill that would've effectively ended the battle for the mine due to clean water violations.  But, that bill didn't pass.  I mean fuckin' a', even the old shit bag Ted Stevens is against the Pebble Mine.  So Fuck You Northern Dynasty, Fuck You Canada, Fuck You Sarah Palin, and Fuck You if you support the Pebble Mine.  If you buy gold make sure you buy from a company, like Tiffany (seriously) that has vowed not to buy any Pebble Mine gold.  But don't buy diamonds from Tiffany, that's a whole 'nother rabble.  The rabble barely scratched the surface of the Pebble Mine debacle but read more about it, including more specific statistics, on any or all of the websites below.  And watch the film Red Gold.  It's really good.  Rabble-B

Renewable Resources Coalition
Sportsman's Alliance for Alaska
Red Gold