Red Gold: The Pebble Mine Debate. Bristol Bay, AK
October 8, 2009 by
Filed under pebble mine
www.wayupstream.com http This short film clip by Felt Soul Media frames the debate on the proposed gold mine at the headwaters of Bristol Bay in AK. Learn More. Get Involved.
Just got done watching the Red Gold Documentary….very sad the dollars and cents could out weight one of the last great fishing lands in the world. I am not an avid fisherman but I know the value of fishing on more than the monetary level. DON”T let them mine!!! At all cost stop this.
Good stuff! I have copyright permission and have received the High Definition trailer from Travis of Felt Soul Media. Come take a look in hd!
im from Bristol Bay…..
And what im saying we need to keep fighting we could get the pebble mine outta Bristol somehow
Lovely photography and certainly interesting, but a repetitive, long-winded movie, replete with numerous errors of fact. Too bad. Every one of the individuals profiled in the movie depends on copper in some way. Where will it come from, if not a mine, somewhere? Fortunately the US has amongst the toughest environmental laws in the world, and if a mine does go in, it should be held to those laws.
We (the broke ass fishermen) wouldn’t be broke if the fucking processors didn’t screw us over every year. They can afford to pay us at least a buck a pound, but no they’re paying us 68 cents. Fuck this pebble mine bullshit. It shouldn’t even be a debate. I live in oregon and we fucked up the Columbia river doing the same type of bullshit. Fuck the mine.
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Who wants to chitchat and see if we get along?
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Oh, the mineral part is quite true. The contamination comes from the “industry” that we are talking about, and this film is wanting to stop. Hawaii does have some exports, such as fish (Large fish farms off the coast that nobody talks about) Water (distilled deep salt water is a hit in Japan) Algee (spirilina) and tourism. The tourism is not to come and see a metropolis, but to enjoy nature and the waves. Pakalolo is a money crop anywhere, even Alaska. You lose your land if you are caught.
This is a lie!
All mechanized activities are fully permitted and reclaimed and available for public review. Because you are ignorant, you must resort to fabrication and extrapolation.
Hawaii is hardly uncontaminated. Hawaii is 100% dependent on minerals and 100% dependent on someone else, far away to produce these minerals for them. Hawaii’s number one product are tourist trinkets. Hawaii’s number one export is pakalolo. Hawaii is a playground for corporate chiefs. This is no record to be proud of.
There is a difference and a vicious cycle here. First the Corporation makes promises, then with the permits, they start, then when they make profit they invest it in DEREGULATION lobbying rather than ENVIRONMENT. You fail to say that those same resources will be there tomorrow… so there is no rush to get them… they will be there. Now people pay big money to live in UNCONTAMINATED places like Hawaii. Not because they are fancy, because they are pure.
The test drilling (without permits I might add) is already doing enough damage.
google ak trecking and find the test site photos, see for yourself, and extrapolate..
Vote YES on Ballot Measure 4
We’ve been very lucky in Alaska that we haven’t had any accidents with mines. The reason that I’m concerned about this particular mine is that Northern Dynasties is owned by some of the same people that caused Montana’s Zortman-Landusky open-pit mine fiasco.
Who knows? That’s why we have regulatory oversight and enforcement. Fisherman have done the same thing to their own fisheries. It is an indisputable fact that commercial fisherman slaughter millions of fish every year and that they have destroyed entire fisheries by their greed. Can you name one fishery in Alaska that has been negatively impacted by mining? Cominco (Red Dog) and Kinross (Ft. Knox) have factually improved downstream fish habitat. Fishing and mining together is the answer.
Oh, so you mean to say that you don’t believe that this Northern Dynasties will finish its business here, Possibly causing major damage, and then hide behind the government of Canada, forcing taxpayers to cover the expenses of cleanup, like many mines owned by foreign countries have done before it?
There will be no CN- in the tailings pond. All Cn- leachate is recycled and any discharge is neutralized with CaO. Same thing at Ft. Knox where recycle pond is number one recruitment hatchery for Grayling in Chena River drainage. Ft. Knox contributes over $200M annually to the state and local economy. Pebble will be several times this. When Pebble goes, it will contribute significantly more revenue to the state than Bristol Bay fishery. Plus good paying yearround jobs. Mining/fishing together.
Northern Dynasty is run by some of the same people that owned the Zortman-Landusky mine in Montana, and we all remember how that turned out. The proposed pebble mine would operate in the same way, and regardless of who is running the mine I don’t like the idea of a dammed-up cesspool of cyanide threatining any part of our fishing industry. The mining industry is only attributed to 1.5% of the state of Alaska’s annual, it is dwarved by the fishing and oil industries.
There are a lot of problems associated with the old mills and mines. This is what led to the passage of the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, and Wetlands Act, and Endangered Species Act. There is a world of difference between the mining practices of the 1960s and of today. Alaska has a stellar record for regulatory oversight and enforcement. I say that we can have both fish and minerals, further, I say that we MUST have both fish and minerals. We can’t fish without the minerals and fuel.
Northern Dynasty does not mine in Colorado. The people of Colorado are factually, the largest polluters in Colorado.
I live in Johnstown,pa and there were alot of steelmills and there was a coal mine across the street and they all left in the 70’s and to this day the rivers and creeks are stained brown and orange from sulfur and other chemicals . The conmaugh river flows less than a mile from my house and I’ve never seen anyfish there my whole life. people say it’s because the chemical drive the fish away because it causes them pain to breath the water.
hiya!
pebble mine must be stopped! it is an issue that affects everyone! these canadian mining companies are unscrupulous and determined. look at the uranium issue in South Dakota and Nebraska too!
if they do come and mine this area theres gonna be some problems because we are not going without a fight fuck dynasty and what they beleive there killers and money mongers
Metallogeny-
Why don’t you go and do some research before opening your ignorant mouth. Northern Dynasty is the largest polluter in Colorado. If they can’t run an environmentally friendly mine in CO now, what makes you think they can do it in Bristol Bay tomorrow?
You’ve almost got it. Butte was 100 years ago. Much has developed since. Both Red Dog and Ft. Knox have significantly improved the fisheries of surrounding streams. Well documented by AK Fish and Game. There is no reason that Pebble couldn’t do the same. EPA has defined any waste-rock, AMD generating or not as a “toxic dishcarge”. Your garden & your local gravel pit also qualify as a toxic discharge under this definition. It is just words with no real meaning. Arbitrary? Yes. Capricious? Yes.
Apparently all the “best” mining practices have earned the mining industry a prestigious top finish on the EPA’s list of Industrial Polluters. Whether Coal or Hardrock, bad mining is bad mining. After the mine has completed it’s lifespan and big business has filled it’s pockets by raping the countryside, often the U.S. taxpayer is left with the cleanup. Take note that the remnants of hardrock mining in Butte is currently costing over $100 million, more than 100 years after the mines were built.
I am a pro-geologist w/25 yrs in AK. We do not use poor mining practices, only best practices. Invalid to compare Appalachia coal mining to Alaska. There is no evidence of AMD from 100s of old mines in AK. Kennecot Mine dumped MTs waste directly into Copper River, yet world class fishing today. You make a giant leap in assuming that one mine will kill all fish in Bristol Bay. The state of Alaska has reams of “verbiage” to support the mine. It is the anti-mining crowd that is fear-mongering.