More Bristol Bay Bad News

[scudrunner]

Here is a link to the Anchorage Daily News article regarding a BLM decision to open millions of acres of fish habitat to mineral and oil exploration/development: http://www.adn.com/money/story/592844.html

This area is near the Kvichak and Nushagak rivers... both are world class salmon and trout fishing areas.

[mikebraun]

Thats sad, when will they learn?

[scudrunner]

It has been my experience that they will continue to make attacks until they get what they want. They will sweeten the pot for the decision makers and stakeholders that they cannot refuse!

Sure the Pebble Mine, for example, will employ hundreds, if not thousands of people. Sure, it may be one of the richest mineral and metal finds in recent history in the world... But, history has repeatedly shown the legacy of these mines with hazardous waste, large open pits, roads, developments all things that cannot be restored.

Take a look at Kennecott Mine in Chitna Alaska. This was the most modern mine in the US at the time. They had steam piped to all of the buildings for heat, wood water mains likewise. All of this in the 1920's. But now, the old dillapidated buildings are becoming more and more unstable, falling apart and unsafe.

In the Cooper Landing are of the Kenai Peninsula, there are recent (last 30 years) mining activities that are strewn with old buildings, machinery and litter that is an eye sore.

Did you know that Alaska has the most SARA III Superfund sites? How ironic, since we are the Last Fontier!

OK... I'm stepping off of the soap box now.

[ShawnBuller]

Isn't that how we (humans) normally do it. We go into a pristene area and exploit it for everything its worth, then try to do damage control, in order to right the wrong.

Have you ever done anything wrong as a little kid and had to cover it up before someone found out about it. Putting all the little pieces back together as if it never happened.......sounds firmiliar.......flashback to childhood.

It makes sense.

[Chinook SSSF]

So typical....It is also the "foot in the door" thing. I was worried about that with pebble, here is why. I could see that everything the industry had was aimed at pebble, leaving the door open for attack and mining/land grabs/claims that we would not have enough muster to fight against all of them. Hit mother nature when man is low.........

Allowing pebble opens the door for more permit requests in the future with proof that money will buy anything. How do I know this? There are already many mine operations and additional mining requests in Alaska today other than pebble, that is what opened the door for pebble permit request. It is public knowledge that political pockets are being heavily lined to push the pebble through. It is also clear that the native indian tribes are clearly the better stewards of the land. We are not doing a very good job..

Soap box, rant, stupid Americans politicians, call it what you want.....I agree, it is just wrong.