"Pebble Partners announce $100+ Economic stimulus and relief package for Anchorage and Juneau."
Two years ago I sat right here and typed out a ranting about the State of Alaska and the permitting system... Ironic enough, this morning on KLDG AM670 was the report about Pebble Limited Partnership's permitting announcement from yesterday morning. The ADN headline (http://www.adn.com/2012/05/15/2465573/pebble-prospect-developers-earmark.html#storylink=cpy) should have read "Pebble Partners announce $100+ Economic stimulus and relief package for Anchorage and Juneau." The piece I wrote is posted below with a link to the original in my FBook Notes.
"The State of Alaska's current policy of self-regulation & self-reporting has already been responsible for illegal water use and who knows what else and the in-place land management plan was designed specifically to allow for industrial scale development on environmentally sensitive lands. If that were not enough, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced today that the Minerals Management Service would be split because of conflict of interests that have been shown to deteriorate the effectiveness of having a responsible permitting process at the federal level. In the wake of the trajic and avoidable events in the Gulf, the North Pacific Fishery is now more important as a sustainable resource for Alaska and the United States. How would it feel to have a future unknown incident cause a catostrophic breach or pipeline break at the planned Pebble Mine project spewing toxic chemicals into tundra & marsh at the headwaters of Bristol Bay? Scenes of dead fish, bears and seals will be shown on national and international news shows, ecnomists will attempt to predict the impact and the residents of Bristol Bay will be left cleaning up with little to no relief being available. By allowing development to continue at Pebble Mine, the State of Alaska is setting itself up for failure. The 2005 Bristol Bay Area Plan needs to be rescinded and ALL mineral exploration That violates the original and sufficient plan must be halted. Statutory and regulatory measures must be drafted and instituted to ensure the protection and beneficial development of the Bristol Bay Fishery for the future of this wonderful and withstanding natural resource." Posted Original