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Soldiering on at Pebble mine, despite voter rejectionIn a victory press release sent out on Monday night, Art Hackney, spokesperson for the nonprofit Alaskans for Bristol Bay, which sponsored the Save our Salmon initiative, made this rather bold statement: "The passage of the SOS Initiative effectively halts development of the proposed Pebble Mine." Indeed, the SOS initiative was intended to stop the development of Pebble mine, one of the largest undeveloped gold and copper deposits in the world, which would would sit in the watershed of Bristol Bay, home of the largest wild salmon run in the world. The initiative is intended to give local areas control over the mine's permitting process. If it is held up in court, permits could not be granted for any large-scale resource extraction activity -- including building roads and bridges that would assist in such extraction -- that would impact salmon-producing streams. The initiative did pass by 34 votes, a slimmer margin than was expected. (Some who had been working to get the initiative passed had been saying that as many as 80 percent of the area was against the mine.) However, work at the Pebble deposit continued Tuesday. The vote, Monday night, did not effect any of the 100 or so on-site employees who are working at the prospect. Mike Heatwole, a Pebble spokesman, said that those who were working on the site acted much as they have any other day. Drill rigs were still being manned. Core samples were being taken. Helicopters were still flying people in and out of the area. Medics were still on hand. Food was still being cooked and served. People still had their jobs. The promise of gold still hung in the air. A court date to argue whether or not the initiative violates the Alaska Constitution is scheduled for Nov. 7 -- a date decided on in July, when Alaska Superior Court Judge John Suddock deferred ruling on the initiative's legality until voters had weighed in and the election was over. Heatwole declined to speculate what would happen if they lost in Superior Court. He did say, however, that the Pebble Partnership has no intention of shutting down anytime soon. "We are not prepared to stop work," he said. Contact Amanda Coyne at amanda(at)alaskadispatch.com ~~~ THE PEBBLE PRIZE ~~~ I propose: If any mining-engineering company can accomplish the task of cleaning up the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster, then they are considered to be skilled enough to operate the Pebble Mining Project... CLEAN UP FUKUSHIMA FIRST !! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_Daiichi_nuclear_disaster Dr. Helen Caldicott.... http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=fukushima+explosion&aq=f http://www.fairewinds.com/ http://enenews.com/ http://cerea.enpc.fr/en/fukushima.html http://www.rense.com/general94/secbb.htm http://www.elenafilatova.com/ Chernobyl had 180 tons of uranium fuel-rods in the damaged reactor.. ... Interesting idea. Tell you what, I'll make a deal with you. I'll support your Fukushima Protocol if you'll support my plan. Simply, here it is ... before another American buys another cell phone, another computer, another car, builds another house, turns on another light, or rides in another airplane we, as a nation, must demand that the human rights of copper miners and the value of the environment to all indigenous peoples in what we haughtily call the "Third World" be respected by both the mine owners and the governments of the respective countries. Before we Americans can use one more thing made of copper we must take responsibility for the mess it creates. We must cease off-shoring the human rights abuses and environmental devastation, currently the norm in too many parts of the world, that are part and parcel of our happy, comfortable, technologically rich lives. Unless we stop using copper, molybdenum and gold we each share some responsibility for these abuses, however well we minimize the thought. It is therefore incumbent on each of us to insist that the mining of copper, and all mining, be done in both an environmentally sound and socially just manner - a thing which we currently have it in our power to do right here in Alaska. Let us show the world how to do it right. http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/08/2011828142858857222.html http://indigenouspeoplesissues.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9946:west-papua-freeport-mcmoran-copper-and-gold-inc-an-innovative-voluntary-code-of-conduct-to-protect-human-rights-create-employment-opportunities-and-economic-development-of-the-indigenous-people&catid=62:southeast-asia-indigenous-peoples&Itemid=84 http://www.miningwatch.ca/article/courting-justice-victims-mining-abuses-sue-canada http://www.dawn.com/2011/06/29/rights-violations-worsen-in-balochistan-hrcp.html OK.. We gotta DEAL !! Humans won't make it thru to the end of the 21Century unless we all stand up for Social Responsibility and Sustainability. Alaska is not Africa, and we should work to make both places a groovy place to boogie, without most of the peoples living in wastelands created by mega-corporate indulgence. Yeah, I'm part 1stNations blood too.. inheriting a tradition of keeping a clean-conscience and spiritual awareness is a blessing unsoiled from the curse of corporate criminality. Part of the history of modern-mining by mega-corporations traces itself back to the Age of Conquest.. dating back to 1575 when Marco Polo reported to the Vatican about the amazing wealth of riches on display in every city of old-China... This story is recently revealed in a book called Gold Warriors >> http://bowstring.net/ ....the old family pedigree of many of the power players in Alaska today is fairly amusing.... An ounce of Knowledge is worth much more than a ton of Gold. http://vimeo.com/30816614 They should not stop work. On the contrary, they should move forward with increased zeal with the knowledge that they have far greater support in the area than originally thought- and they have Robbi Gillam to thank for footing the bill to do the research- Now that's a beautiful thing!! I am as a rule a moderately-rabid, controlled-foamer, pro-Local citizen. Especially when it comes to rural & remote locales. The Sagebrush Rebellion and its many derivatives is a high-point of modern history, imo. But, I have downloaded the PDF of the Save Our Salmon initiative (offered above in this Post), and (if this is really 'it') it does not look like these folks adequately addressed this part of the overall project. Of course, there are also significant aspects of 'carpetbagging' in play, too, which can account for a lack of effective local follow-through. Alaska Dispatch wrote ... "The promise of gold still hung in the air." You can give the spin a rest now, this vote regarding the proposed copper mine is over. Well, for the moment, anyhow. Still, given the voter turnout it needs to be noted that not just 34 votes separate the winners from the losers in this contest. Despite all the money Bob Gillam spent, despite the deals cut, despite the politics of personal destruction as practiced by Art Hackney, fewer than 60 percent of eligible voters mailed in a ballot. Over 40 percent either decided to wait and see, or just couldn't be motivated to vote for the initiative even by the considerable efforts, and financial contributions, of Gillam, et al. Interesting. |
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