Posted on 11/05/2014 9:37:30 PM PST by balch3
Alaska voters approved a ballot measure aimed at adding a hurdle to the potential development of a major copper and gold mine.
The measure requires the state’s legislature to approve any proposed mining project in the Bristol Bay watershed. It targets the Pebble Mine, a planned copper and gold mine that would be the largest of its kind in the world.
Environmentalists, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and some Alaska native tribes want to stop the mine due to its potential impact on wildlife in Bristol Bay and the watershed, including a massive salmon population.
Sixty-five percent of voters approved of the proposed restriction, compared with 35 percent opposing, Alaska Dispatch News reported.
The measure could be moot, since the EPA has proposed restrictions on the mine that would effectively block its development. Northern Dynasty Minerals, Pebble’s developer, is working on legislative and judicial fronts to challenge the EPA’s decision.
In addition, independent gubernatorial candidate Bill Walker opposes the mine. The race had not been called as of Wednesday, but Walker leads current Gov. Sean Parnell (R) in votes.
The GMO thing. I’m not really a fan of GMO, but there were some articles a while back about how pretty much every crop on earth now has tested positive for GMO ‘cross pollination” or whatever term they used...basically meaning it’s all GMO to some degree.
Horse/barn door.
Who needs more jobs when you can just sit around and smoke dope now?
Some environmental choices are too important to play around with over a few hundred jobs for 30 years.
Well said and makes me homesick!
Ok, that makes sense. A key part of capitalism is that businesses must be held accountable when they are negligent or damage private/public property.
The hoopla about “GM” Crops is a bunch of luddite BS. Libs would prefer people starve to death.
“Environmentalists, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and some Alaska native tribes want to stop the mine...”
It’s always the same: stop development but give me funds in taxpayer revenues for my own, little games.
Money for me, but not for thee.
If bullsh*t were bullion, the streets of the world would be paved with gold.
I swear, some of my fellow conservatives are just like the knee-jerk liberals we laugh at. Just take a few minutes and research tailing ponds failures. Just building this mine will destroy a huge amount of salmon spawning grounds. These tailing ponds that contain millions of gallons of basically battery acid has to survive forever without leaking which is impossible. There will be breaches which will destroy Bristol Bay fishing. Mount Polley Mine Dam failure in Canada is the most recent example. I hate the EPA but on this I’m with them.
Environmentalists and the EPA, blocking development for far too long.
Pebble will never happen, just plain wrong way to go and everybody has known it for the last 5 years.
You give control of your lands to the EPA in washington DC.
you all really trust government don’t you?
An EPA that says global warming is the biggest threat to the world when actually global warming is a hoax.
Correction: A demonstration of democracy. It was put to a vote.
Does that mean all those crops now need to pay a royalty to Monsanto?
I’m with you.
I've been on FR since 1996, I sometimes wonder about the new comers?
Not really. Any mine of the sort proposed has a huge chance of wiping out the Bristol Bay sockeye runs (the largest in the world) or at best severely reducing them.
Beyond that, there is also a possibility of reducing the crab population (Opilio, King, etc) in the Bay and Bering Sea. The dead salmon help supply the nutrients the entire ecosystem needs to maintain the abundant marine life and livelihoods of many Alaskans. Wave good bye to Pollock (fish sticks), Hake (artificial crab), Halibut, and True Cod. These are multibillion dollar fisheries, as well as supplying a large portion of the fish in the nation’s grocery stores.
No relatively transient mine will replace the lost food sources, income, or jobs over the long term. The Bay and Bering fisheries also help the US Balance of Trade
Its a battle between food and metals - and you cannot eat metal. More metal or more food - the voters clearly saw this choice and voted for food.
Dont post your liberal clap trap here on FR!! Everyone here knows that mining is a perfectly safe and environmentally friendly endeavor!! With no impacts whatsoever!!!
Well...
My neck of the woods (literally) has seen much mining in the past. One of my family’s favorite camping / fishing spots was once the site of major salt works (plural). Other parks and reserves are former strip mine locations. My Dad was heavily involved in research and projects to reclaim strip mined land. For example:
http://www.illinoismuskies.com/Pyramid.pdf
On fact, one present “problem” is that the State has so much park land in the area that due to low usage (per acre) they can’t afford to maintain it all. There have been rumblings that the largest park might be closed. (One problem is that so few people seem to know it exists — or maybe they are all “absorbed” by social media these days...?)
At any rate, altered is not necessarily “destroyed”, and “destruction” is often temporary. Sometimes what follows is actually better. However, mining must be done with a modicum of sense, and there I would agree with you. In this region, no mining that I know of has been done since the 1960’s without the mining company doing a pretty good job of restoration — obviously because they were required to. In the case of a major fishery, even more care should be taken, as that affects a lot more people than just the fishermen.
Reasonable environmental protections are necessary in the case of mining operations: The question is what is reasonable in each instance. However, the successful minimum wage initiatives, etc., are worrisome, as a mere “anti-incumbent” mood at best only slows the “progressives” slightly. Illinois, for example, also passed a “Millionaire’s Tax” initiative. Fortunately, at least in the near future, that one will likely be blocked by governor-elect Rauner, but in the long run, one can just “see” the moneyed citizens leaving. Why stay in Illinois? IL will be lucky to have any jobs outside the Gov’t that are not minimum wage jobs...
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