A Fishful of Dollars
Flying in to King Salmon
Below is the borderline angry letter that I sent to the Core of Engineers about the proposed Pebble Mine in Bristol Bay, Alaska. You can write your own and rashly fire it off through this organization:
http://www.savebristolbay.org/
Building an open pit mine and the largest earthen dam in the world in the headwaters of Bristol Bay, a seismically active region, is not smart. I don't think we need a Core of Engineers to tell us that.
The reason why this is even up for debate at all is because of money from other mines, mines that were probably better thought out than Pebble. I still believe that mining has its place, and that includes areas where it is safe and likely to be profitable. The wetlands surrounding Lake Iliamna do not meet either of those criteria.
People who are in favor of Pebble mine are making money right now off of the profits of other mines. People who are opposed to Pebble mine are making their living from the currently viable and renewable resources of Bristol Bay, i.e. salmon, caribou, bears, and migratory birds.
To boot, quite a few tourists go to see the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, the site of a cataclysmic volcanic eruption that occurred just over a hundred years ago. Go see it, then tell me that a huge lake of toxic waste held in check by an earthen dam is a good idea within a thousand miles of there.
Right now, Bristol Bay is a natural wonder that creates thousands of sustainable jobs. Putting that at risk for a mining operation that has a maximum lifespan of even two hundred years is not worth it, even if the mine provided the same number of jobs and similar distribution of wealth, which it won't.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Take care.