Opening
up my email this morning and I find an email from The Alaska Center. I have screen capped it so it’s easier to
dissect. Despite my own position on the
possible development of industrial scaled open pit and cave mines in the
headwaters of the last truly wild and thriving all encompassing Salmonidae spawning grounds, hyperbole and ½ facts are in fact
not really helpful in trying to resist what seems to be almost certain. Let’s review a few key facts about the
situation…
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1. The unprecedented actions that the EPA was pursuing in
denying the developers and stakeholders of the proposed Pebble Project due
process in an already multi-layered permitting system are quite honestly
un-constitutional.
2. Alaskan Voters approved a ballot measure in 2014 called the
Bristol Bay Forever Initiative by a margin of 65.94% to 34.06%.
3. All Alaskans are stakeholders in this particular project as
it resides on State of Alaska property. That
means that it is Our say in what happens to Our resources, not the federal
government.
I
have been involved in opposing the development of the proposed Pebble Mine for
a decade plus and have not changed my position at all… however I have changed
my mind on the “How” to protect Bristol Bay from perpetual destruction from any
resource development and exploitation.
Here’s a link to my submitted comments to the EPA’s Bristol Bay
Watershed Assessment: http://jonrcorbett.blogspot.com/2013/06/public-comments-to-usepas-bristol-bay.html
For
the most part I still stand by those comments exacting the point of supporting
any pre-emptive veto of a not yet submitted permitting application. I believe that with the political conditions
in Alaska because of the Bristol Bay Forever Initiative, it would be best for
everyone to agree that the assessment is relevant, but the federal government
should not interfere with the operations of the State of Alaska and the use of
Our property. I also fully support those
Bristol Bay community members taking a seat at the Pebble table. We must have that input, because if Alaskans
do eventually allow mining in Bristol Bay, someone has to be looking out for a
Place That’s Always Been.