4 replies to this topic

[DirtyDog]

As someone with an obvious interest in mining history, and a former exploration geologist and mine employee, I am opposed to the proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska. Sometimes you just have to decide that an area is more valuable for its ecosystem than for the minerals it contains. This is a great trailer:




I love the quote buy the fisherman in that clip about being the richest man on Earth. Common sense dictates we are going to need food (salmon) forever, but the resources that mine produce will run out in a matter of decades.

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

DD thanks for the link. What a great video. This summer on our trip to Denali we met a man from the town of Elfin Cove. It's in the area across from Glacier Bay. He was telling us about the outsiders that spend the summers there and get voting rights. These are some rich lodge owners from the lower 48. They set up hunting and fishing lodges, the problem is that they trash the land and vote themselves into positions of power and the locals than can't enforce the rules of their own town. Listening to him talk to us about this problem all over the state,we thought it strange that people in one of the most beautiful places on earth can treat the land so badly. From the video you can hear some of the peoples opinion about jobs vs environment and it seems that jobs and outside money seem to win all the time. IMHO.

Frank

ps I can't find his card,but if anyone is interested I think you could start with a google of elfin cove alaska

[DirtyDog]

If you are a broke fisherman, and you can see the beauty in everything, then you have a wonderful life.

Edward Abbey would approve.

[Ted]

The vid is from 2008. The local people got a chance to vote just two months ago. The people against the mine won. A lawsuit has been filed. This will not be over soon.

[Skeeter]

I flew a trip into Dillingham AK last fall. I was impressed with the fishing fleet and discovered that Bristol Bay has the largest run of Salmon in the world. It would be terrible to loose one of the last strong holds of this species. In the long run, the fishing industry there will outlive any mineral extraction operation and thus provide jobs, food and an intact ecosystem.