Environmental Justice

Pebble Mine at Bristol Bay

SUS-331 Cultural and Place Based EquityApril 4,2012

By: Jason E Evitt

Bristol Bay

Other Copper/Gold Mines

Pebble Mine

• The Pebble Mine would extract gold, copper and molybdenum, but the ore is low-grade and filled with sulfur.

• This risky development would staddle two of the Bay’s most important salmon streams in the Kvichak and Nushagack River drainages.

• It would be a 2,000 foot deep open-pit gold and copper mine stretching over 2 miles.

• P.M. would create gigantic dams and enormous amounts of waste including cyanide, sulfuric acid, arsenic and other toxic chemicals.*

Pebble Mine

• The industrial infrastructure would include transmission lines

• 86 miles of shipping roads• The dredging of Cook Inlet- home to the

endangered Cook Inlet beluga whale- for a new deep water shipping port

• A 100 mile road into wilderness• Construction of a power plant big enough

to supply the city of Anchorage

Pebble Mine

• The mine will siphon 70 million gallons of freshwater a day- nearly 35 billion gallons per year, critically reducing flow to multiple salmon rivers.

• The mine would sit in an earthquake-prone area near the Lake Clark fault, a 135-mile tectonic zone, and just 125 miles north of the site of the infamous 1964 earthquake- the largest in North American history.

• P.M. would create permanent destruction of over 60 miles of salmon habitat.

Pebble Mine

The Multinational Mining Companies

• The Pebble Mine is proposed by a 50:50 joint venture between UK based Anglo American and Canadian company Northern Dynasty

• Report by Nunamta Aulukestai, a coalition of 9 village corporations leading the effort to stop the mine.*

• Investor advisory released Feb 22, 2012*

Intentional Deception

• The illusion of local, Native support*• Nuna Resources*

Proponents

• Iliamna Village Native Corporation supports the project.

• Proponents argue that the mine will create jobs, provide tax revenue to the state of Alaska, and reduce American dependence on foreign sources of raw materials.

• According to the Pebble Partnership, the mine would create about 1,000 long term jobs.

Opposition to the Pebble Mine

• Opponents argue that the mine would adversely affect the entire Bristol Bay watershed and that the possible consequences to fish populations, when effluents escape planned containments, are simply too great to risk.

• Thousands of local jobs are supported by the sustainably-managed salmon fishery.

• There has been a barrage of legal, political and regulatory hurdles over the last year.

Opposition to the Pebble Mine

• 54% of Alaskans oppose Pebble when they support oil, mining, tourism and other industries

• 81% of Bristol Bay Native Corp. oppose• Sea to Table is teaming with Chefs

Collaborative and Trout Unlimited• The Food Market Institute*• Bristol Bay Regional Seafood

Development Association*

Opposition to the Pebble Mine

• Over 50 leading US and UK jewelers, including Tiffany & Co., with sales of $5.5 billion have launched the “No Pebble Pledge” campaign.

• Nearly 30 investors*• Citizen Review*• The Nature Conservancy studied the

project and concluded the risks to wild salmon populations are “very high.”

Wildlife of Bristol Bay

EPA’s Watershed Assessment• In response to requests from the Bristol Bay

commercial fishing industry and the Bristol Bay Native Corporation.

• Supported by Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley and Washington Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray.

• Supported by investors representing $170 billion assets and 13 million shares of Anglo American

• Congress will conduct a hearing on the project by June 2012.

• EPA will release results from a scientific assessment in April 2012

Formosa Mine Superfund Site• This 76 acre site in Oregon in the South

Umpqua drainage was a copper/zinc mine.• In 1997, the acid mine drainage control system

failed and toxic pollution was released into the South Fork of Middle Creek and elsewhere downstream.

• 18 miles of fish habitat below the mine was severely degraded and the fishery was destroyed.

• Taxpayers are now footing the bill to clean up the Formosa Mine, a small fraction of the size of the Pebble Mine projected at 54.5 square miles.

Wildlife of Bristol Bay

Bristol Bay Salmon Fishery• Alaska’s Bristol Bay Fishery is the world’s

largest wild sockeye salmon fishery.• Up to 40 million sockeye salmon return to Bristol

Bay each year.• The US Dept of Fish and Game forecasts 21

million sockeye salmon will be harvested from Bristol Bay in 2012.

• It is the economic engine for the region, generating $318 to $573 million in annual revenue and roughly 10,000 jobs.

• Salmon are acutely sensitive to pollution.• 2 ppb of copper dust in the water can affect their

ability to naturally navigate and spawn.

Sockeye Salmon

Bristol Bay

• There are stunning king salmon, the largest run in Alaska, and trophy rainbow trout along with several other fish species.

• The salmon support an abundance of bears, whales, seals, eagles and Natives.

• B.B. is home to orcas, beluga whales, wild moose, caribou, river otters, wolverines, porcupines, red fox, and mink.

• B.B. is 1 of only 2 populations of freshwater harbor seals.

A Salmon Based Economy

Hard Rock Mining

• The US BLM wants to open a million adjacent acres to hard-rock mining in this pristine watershed.

• The massive investment in infrastructure that the Pebble Mine would require- roads, pipelines, a shipping port- will likely lead to more mining proposals.

• According to the EPA, the hard-rock mining industry is the single largest source of toxic waste in the country.

Inevitability

• Every large copper/gold mine in the world has had environmental disasters that have ruined the waters and wildlife around them.

• EVERY ONE OF THEM!!!

Pertinent Videos• http://www.youtube.com/e

mbed/U0odIwjRpAk?rel=0&wmode=transparentl&autoplay=1

• http://youtu.be/YeQcypNbg0k

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=HLTAq8NnkJc

Sources:• http://juneauempire.com/state/2012-03-19/native

-corps-bicker-over-pebble-mine-meeting#.T3ya09md6So

• http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/epa-seeks-experts-peer-review-pebble-mine-report?page=full

• http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/epa-seeks-experts-peer-review-pebble-mine-report?page=full

• http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/935811/food-retail-industry-flexes-its-muscle-for-alaska-s-bristol-bay-world-s-largest-wild-salmon-fishery

Sources:• http://www.registerguard.com/web/opinion/2769

4721-47/bay-bristol-mine-oregon-salmon.html.csp

• http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/time-protect-bristol-bay-cultures-not-sell-them?page=0,1

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pebble_Mine• http://eon.businesswire.com/news/eon/

20120222005385/en/pebble-mine/investor-risk/bristol-bay

Sources:

• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-hanlon/genetically-engineered-fish_b_1321434.html

• http://sea2table.com/content/no-pebble-bristol-bay

• http://www.savebiogems.org/stop-pebble-mine/

• http://www.wildsalmonprotection.com/facts.php