|
Fish First!
By now you have surely heard of the proposed Pebble Mine. The Pebble issue is of immediate concern for commercial fishermen. Recent developments, including an expansion of the Pebble Mine site and the mine owners request to drain water from adjacent salmon streams require everyone's special attention. Wild Bristol Bay salmon’s image, which we have worked so hard to develop, cannot is inevitably affected by the potential mine. The Washington Fish Growers Association has already posted news of the mine on their website and would use the fact that our salmon are born downstream from a toxic mine against us if the mine were ever to become a reality.
The potential devastation to the Bristol Bay Watershed by the hard-rock metallic sulfide mining industry is not worth risking our fisheries for. The dangerous chemical leaching process used by the some of the mining industry leaves behind toxic waste that must be dealt into perpetuity. Such waste could contaminate the clean waters upon which our world renowned sockeye harvests depend – clearly our salmon are not worth the risk; SALMON ARE MORE PRECSIOUS THAN GOLD!
“It should be remembered that the Bristol Bay sockeye salmon
run is a phenomenon on a scale seen nowhere else on earth. It is a natural wonder as extraordinary as the Grand Canyon and threats to it must be taken with equal concern”
Here are some facts:
A Canadian mining company called Northern Dynasty wants to develop a mine to extract an estimated 27 million ounces of gold in an area straddling the Kvichak and Nushagak drainage systems. The find makes it the largest known gold deposit, and the second largest copper deposit, in North America. Their claim, combined with at least six other mining companies owning peripheral claims covers a potential mining district over 1,100-square-miles in size.
Specifically, to get these minerals there would be an open pit 1200-feet deep and over one-and-a half miles wide, also the largest in North America. Near this would be tailings pond more than 10 square miles in size which would sit where Frying Pan Lake and the South Fork Koktuli headwaters now lie. The area encompasses the headwaters of Upper Talarik Creek and the South Fork Koktuli River, which itself would be re-routed. These waters, the headwaters of the Nushagak and Kvichak river systems, are directly linked to salmon spawning and rearing habitat
Hardrock mining is the largest source of toxic releases in the US, according to the EPA. There are few examples of non-polluting mines and many mines have left long dark histories of poisoned land, abandoned cleanup obligations and lives harmed by the resulting devastation.
The Pebble tailings pond is GUARANTEED to be toxic from the very nature of the sulfide-laced ore being mined that becomes sulfuric acid when exposed to air and water. Juvenile salmon die when exposed to minute amounts of these toxins. Northern Dynasty admits that preventing leakage or a blowout from accidents or earthquakes cannot be guaranteed (note that Augustine volcano—70-miles away—blew again this January, 2006). This pond will remain like a ticking bomb hanging over Bristol Bay long after the active 35—50 year life of the mine is over.
BOTTOMLINE: Should the mine be approved, some people who live in the area will experience a short-term economic boom--for some. After that there will be a massive scar in the earth, easily seen from space, containing a huge toxic lake
poised over the extremely sensitive ecosystem embracing salmon spawning waterways of the Kvichak and Nushagak drainage systems.
“It’s not that we don’t want development it’s that we insist it be done in a responsible fashion.”
Support Board of Fish Proposal #121 – Fishermen, this is your CALL TO ACTION!!!
Trout Unlimited
http://www.tu.org/bristolbay
American Rivers
www.AmericanRivers.org
Northern Dynasty Mines
http://www.ndmpebblemine.com
Alaska Department of Natural Resources
Division of Mining, Land, and Water - Large Mine Permitting
http://www.dnr.state.ak.us/mlw/mining/largemine
Renewable Resources Coalition
http://www.renewableresourcescoalition.org
|
