Friday January 25, 2008, 3:04 am
No where else in the world can one find crystal clear water teaming with salmon or world record rainbows than in our 49th state. Fishing opportunities like this can be found throughout Alaska, but the Bristol Bay area is the best of the best . . . a fishing paradise.

There is trouble in paradise. A threat to decades of conservation efforts and the destruction of every angler’s dream . . . fishing Alaska.

I am talking about a proposal to create possibly the worlds largest open pit metal sulfide and gold/cooper mine. Should anything go wrong, the word catastrophe could not describe it.

Consider these mind numbing specifications from the Pebble Mine application:

One of the world’s largest dams would be built for a toxic sludge lake of mining tailings that would be higher than the Seattle Space Needle. This earthen dam would end up being 4.3 miles long. Another proposed dam would be 2.9 miles long and 700 feet high. More than 10 square miles of habitat would be destroyed.
The open pit mine itself would be two miles in diameter and nearly one-third mile deep. Add to that the digging required to build the earthen dams and there will be a scar on the planet so huge, the shuttle astronauts will be looking for it.
Operation of the mine would require all of the water from the Upper Talarik Creek and the South Fork Koktuli headwaters plus 100 percent of the ground waters that feed these waterways in order get the 70 million gallons of water needed each day.
All of this would be built in an area known to have seismic activity (think earthquakes).

The Canadian developer has told their shareholders that as a Canadian company their environmental liability would be limited.

The Exxon Valdez oil spill will look like a grease stain compared to what will happen should one of these dams release their billion of gallons of acidic sludge. And it will be up to U.S. taxpayers to pay for the clean up. Sadly, no clean up will undo the damage. The salmon will be gone and the dream vacations of so many anglers will be dead along with the loss of nearly 6,000 jobs that the Bristol Bay fishery makes possible.

Wildlife Forever is throwing its weight into the fight over these state and federal lands and opposing this expansion of Pebble Mine. I encourage you to join the fight by letting your federal legislators (and if you are an Alaskan, your state legislators) know that you strongly oppose this mine’s application.

Friday January 25, 2008, 3:09 am
Thank you very much Marc, this is appalling news. Exxon have still done nothing to make reparations for the shocking environmental damage they caused, the matter is left to drag on in the courts.
And now this horror, in a pure untouched paradise of stunning natural beauty.
When will we ever learn?

Friday January 25, 2008, 3:11 am
Please also sign the petition on the left.

Friday January 25, 2008, 11:52 am
*noted and both petitions signed!

Friday January 25, 2008, 12:05 pm
Signed and noted,thank you

Friday January 25, 2008, 11:03 pm
Petition signed and noted.

Friday January 25, 2008, 11:54 pm
It made the front page and collected over a hundred signatures over night. Not bad, but I think you need more signatures to make an impact. Keep signing folks.

Saturday January 26, 2008, 2:08 am
Done!

Saturday January 26, 2008, 5:37 am
noted and signed

Saturday January 26, 2008, 12:01 pm
noted and signed thanks for the post

Saturday January 26, 2008, 1:21 pm
For generations, humans (and bears and eagles and sealions) have used the Bay for gathering food (those big silver fish are the BEST). Even in recent times, we have restraint, not being greedy. for years the fishing boats were powered by sails. There is a restrictive licensing program now and limited times. Mining in the headwaters is a stupid idea.

Saturday January 26, 2008, 8:33 pm
Noted, and petition already signed, thank you.

Sunday January 27, 2008, 8:16 am
signed and noted. It really irks me that a foreign company is ruining pristine habitat in the name of profits at the expense of the American environment.

Monday January 28, 2008, 1:45 am
Signed and noted. Thank you

Monday February 18, 2008, 10:24 am
thanks for all your signatures. Let's keep it active. Soon the Alaska legilature will be voting on a number of bills that can end this nightmare. We need to reach the petition goal and get it up to the governor in time to make a difference.