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The Pebble Blog

The gigantic Pebble copper and gold prospect in Southwest Alaska is one of the touchiest topics in Alaska today.

In this blog, I'll track news that is significant or interesting about the Pebble project. I'll also try to generate discussion and information sharing about some of the claims and counterclaims about the project, and mining in general.

Please keep your comments courteous and on topic. If you violate the ADN comment policy, your posts will be deleted.

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About Elizabeth Bluemink ebluemink@adn.com

I've been writing about mining in Alaska since 2004 and without a doubt, it is one of the most interesting topics that I cover at the Daily News. I've been a newspaper reporter for the past 10 years. In the Deep South, I specialized in reporting about environmental conflicts and pollution cleanups. For two years, I covered commercial fishing, mining and logging in Southeast Alaska. In my current job as a Daily News business reporter, I write about mining, tourism, Native corporations and other businesses.

Fighting Pebble with auctions

Posted by Elizabeth Bluemink

Posted: April 29, 2008 - 1:19 pm

It looks like a big fundraising effort is kicking off this spring to prevent industrial-scale mining in the Bristol Bay region.

The Sportsman's Alliance for Alaska, a conservation-oriented sportsmen's group in the Lower 48, is hosting auctions galore on its Web site, such as: a two-person trip to a Bristol Bay fishing lodge; Patagonia wading gear; polarized sunglasses; and abstract artwork of rainbow trout.

Some of the lodge trips being offered have a retail value of $13,000 to $15,000.

For more details, go here.

The South Dakota-based alliance is affiliated with the Alaska Conservation Foundation.

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6 June 4, 2008 - 6:11pm | Sockeyemark

26,400 dollars raised to date from auctions

it's a start, not much compaired to the millions that Anglo and Northern Die Nasty have to buy your vote.
Vote Yes on Clean Water

5 May 6, 2008 - 10:48pm | CingRed

First auction item

Well I guess the first auction item didn't sell, zero bidders.

May 7, 2008 - 1:24am | Sockeyemark

You should have bid Ms Red

Everyone has their minds made up....NO PEBBLE

4 May 1, 2008 - 3:56pm | CingRed

Bigger Issue Here

I guess the most disturbing part is the outside influences going on here with Alaska lands. Here's a quote from Alaska Conservation Foundation, of which Scott Hed, director of Sportsman's Alliance for Alaska is part of.

ACF has provided considerable leadership, financial support, staffing, and oversight to the Alaska Coalition. One of our largest and most successful campaign efforts to date, the Coalition is a network of grassroots organizations working to protect Alaskan lands, primarily through organizing and outreach in the Lower 48. After six years of attacks upon the Arctic Refuge, we are greatly relieved that the Coastal Plain remains a pristine, internationally significant icon, a sacred place for Native Alaskans, and a national treasure.

Whether it be ANWR, Tongass, Climate Change, or Pebble this outside interest group and their lawyers mingles with State sovereignty issues. They lock up any sort of progressive development of our natural resources, which Alaskan's should decide over.

Other members include, Jimmy Carter, yes that's right the Ex-President of United States and who during his tenure locked up a huge portion of Alaska (D2 & Katmai) so it can be the Lower 48s playground.

Bottom line, Jimmy Carter, Scott Hed, rich lodge owners, and other ACF members are trying to obtain an exclusive use area for their lodges and clientèle. Call it a good ole' boy country club. The auction to raise funds against Pebble are primarily owners or part-owners from the Lower 48 such as: No See Um, Bristol Bay, Bear Bay, Alaska's Rainbow Point, Sportsman's, Painter Creek Lodge. Some of the corporations are not even listed as Alaska businesses, which has me wondering if they even pay state payroll taxes. I wonder how many local jobs are created from this bunch? How much revenue flies south during the winter? And lastly, how much State income is generated from their use of our Alaskan resources?

We should require full disclosure from special interest groups from outside Alaska when it's concerning lobbying against resource development.

May 2, 2008 - 5:24pm | ak_iceman2003

Let me get this straight...

Let me get this straight... you find it disturbing that an Alaskan organization manages to attact funding from Outside sources and then you claim that Outside special interest groups are locking the land away? Don't you find this ironic considering Northern Dynasty and Anglo American are the companies who want to develop this mine? You mention special interest groups yet you refuse to see that the Alaska legislature on both the State and Federal level has been bought by industry. If this mine doesn't go in I know i can go fishing and fish the same waters that Jimmy Carter fishes -- if Anglo American has their way do you think you'll be able to walk across their lands?

May 4, 2008 - 10:06pm | PuckFebble

Nor does it matter

that the money being spent on this mine comes from AA pillaging Africa and S. America. Mired in civil wars, displacing tens of thousands from tribal lands, dozens killed in thier mining operations annually, poisoned water.
The most ironic part of the whole situation is that AA told those people they same thing they are telling Alaskans. The same rhetoric, but when it comes time to put thier promises in writing they fight it tooth and nail.

3 May 1, 2008 - 1:50pm | ThorZone

Nice Reporting

"The South Dakota-based alliance is affiliated with the Alaska Conservation Foundation."

Nice job Elizabeth. This sort of information normally doesn't make it into the ADN.

May 2, 2008 - 5:27pm | ak_iceman2003

No one is hiding anything

Oh come on... all of this information is fully available in Sourcewatch for whoever is willing to take 5 minutes to search. No one is hiding anything.

2 May 1, 2008 - 1:35pm | ThorZone

Golden Fleece

Just more lower 48 millionaires coming to Alaska telling us how we need to live our lives. I’m shocked, shocked, that manipulation is happening here….

/Casablanca mode off

1 May 1, 2008 - 10:21am | GrizzleyGal

I'm sure the Sportsman Alliance appreciates the free advertising

So the ‘environmentalists’ are auctioning off ten grand a week fishing tours to Lower 48 millionaires eh? Let’s see, first they climb into a jet and dump a load of carbon to get here (please refer to your previous piece that ph levels in Bristol Bay are increasing due to global warming and carbon emission), then they arrive at a $10,000/night lodge staffed by children of the idle rich, and spend their days using carbon and plastic fishing rods. After they catch and kill them, they emit more carbon and fly home. Most of the gear these folks use is made of metal (which comes from mining) and petroleum based plastics. Oh, and their ‘contribution’ to the Sportsman Alliance is probably tax deductible, right?

May 1, 2008 - 11:42pm | Sockeyemark

David and Goliath comes to mind

They raise a few thousand dollars to fight a multibillion dollar corporation. So what....
Bristol Bay has been the backyard for the people who live there for thousands of years.
I believe there's a few thousand gallons of diesel fuel being used by Northern Dynasty to bore their holes at Pebble, Fly their helicopters....
You want to see the area get F _ _ked up just let Northern Dynasty in their to develop Pebble and you'll wish you had those lodge owners back......because they'll be gone along with the subsistence and commercial fisherman..

May 2, 2008 - 1:45pm | pmjusa

Stay classy, Sock

Smile.

May 2, 2008 - 2:40pm | Sockeyemark

You thought I was Classy

I'll take you on a first class fishing trip in the Pebble area.......now that's classy... you'll be blogging against Pebble along with everyone else....or take you out commercial fishing in Bristol Bay and pay you well to pick thousands of pounds of beautiful sockeye salmon...
You'll want to use four letter words to fight for your fish too....Then you can be classy like me!!

May 3, 2008 - 11:25pm | pmjusa

Wow

Thanks for that generous offer. The beauty of the area you speak of is unsurpassed anywhere. I have lived and fished on Lk. Illiamna and the Tikchik lk. chain, and have already stayed at 3 of the top lodges on the chain. Will never forget the 1st time boating up 2nd lk. (Nerka) and the jaw-dropping scenery. Then later, as my pilot pulled into Wood River Lodge's dock (before GCI took over), and seeing lines of gorgeous salmon swimming upstream. Tapping my pilot on the shoulder, pointing, and his telling me with a grin, "yeah, you go catch some after dinner." And then doing just that with help from one of their guides.
If I thought Pebble would present a risk to that priceless resource, of course I would object. So let’s look to Bristol Bay if you want. Right to Bristol Bay.
In Dillingham, that Mecca of fishermen and public surveillance, there's an underwater camera each summer at local “Squaw Creek,” whose salmon are making a comeback. (That creek flows right into the bay and I'm guessing you're very familiar). These resilient insurgents swim a suicide mission beneath two paved roads and a bike path by the airport. How brazen. Vigilant citizens take comfort that we’re spying on the fish and they can watch them on local t.v. But unlike the mining shutdown initiative proponents, certain private lodge owners, or fish in the Pebble region, these Salmon don’t seem to need unperturbed, pristine, natural boundaries of variation to complete their mission. And I feel good that with all the scrutiny on the Pebble Partners, there will be much more care to provide for the fish than they ever took at Squaw Creek in Dillingham.
So are the proposed deceptive “clean water initiatives” really about the fish or about satisfying certain city folk? If in this frenzy of mining paranoia we want politics to stop responsible development at Pebble, creating a de-facto refuge for well heeled outdoorsmen seems like an unreasonable solution.

May 4, 2008 - 1:14am | PuckFebble

fishcam!

I am a fan of fishcam, but really only the highlights the put together after the season. The USFW are the ones responsible for it. But they were also the ones who cleared several obstacles along the river in the culverts etc, to make that run more viable. Squaw creek is certainly not large enough to have a large population, but to compare the squaw creek fish to what would be done at Pebble is like comparing a tonka toy truck to a Cat 979.
Tell me, what do you think would happen to those salmon and all the other critters who use squaw creek if they dug a thousand foot pit right at the headwaters, or they dumped millions of tons of mine tailings in the small valley it runs through?

May 4, 2008 - 7:36pm | pmjusa

Keep it up...

Like always, I’m happy for you to let your screen-name continue to validate your comments. Also, I’m grateful that team sockfebble provides a glimpse into environmentalist ideology regarding attitudes to responsible development. Exaggerate, obfuscate, and repeat the same lies over and over. The truth is that not even the bottled water we buy to drink, or even the water that Sock so casually dips from the Nushagak would be pure enough to meet the “clean water” mining shutdown initiative standards. Read the initiatives, folks. They will shutdown existing mines as soon as they try to renew required recurring permits – which are many. Many Mom and Pop mines also will no longer be eligible for renewed permitting.
This is a free country and a free forum, and team sockfebble can lie all they want and get away with it, so it’s important that we know the facts that actually pertain to Pebble and counter those lies with reality.

May 4, 2008 - 10:01pm | PuckFebble

typical no response.

Once again, you dodge a direct question and do nothing but attack. Your tactics are a page straight out of the political desperation book.

Attack thier position, when that doesnt work, attack thier person, when that doesnt work, attack others who agree with them.

Karl Rove is proud.

May 4, 2008 - 9:58pm | PuckFebble

get over the name

My comments are based on research and fact. Whereas your petty name calling is immature and contributes nothing to the overall discussion.
You are incorrect on a few things. Firstly, this will have no effect on mom and pop mines. Unless they are larger than 640 acres, in which case they are no longer mom and pop mines.
Secondly existing mines are grandfathered in. So it is you who is misrepresenting these facts and blowing smoke everywhere telling everyone that mining will be shut down which is not the case.
But either way, I guess we will find out on election day wont we? You are begining to sound like the cruise industry trying to fight any additional regulation and threatening a shutdown if it comes. I dont find it acceptable for industry to pollute streams. There is plenty of polling data from Alaskans who agree with me.

May 4, 2008 - 11:58pm | pmjusa

I didn't pick your name,

you did. But it does please me that you continue to make your moniker the issue. It’s apt, and all good from my perspective.
Back to research and fact. Read the initiatives, folks. With the area definition of metal mines in the initiatives, many family placer mines will be forced to shut down at the next permit renewal time. Areas include the mine itself, settling ponds, stream bypass, reclamation areas, facilities, airfield, roads to airfield, etc.
Additionally, existing large mines will not be able to renew their permits. There’s no “grandfathering in” those parts of the initiatives, even though they have healthy fish populations downstream from the mine sites because of their attention to a healthy environment. Ask why Red Dog is just now advertising to let people know that they have healthier fish populations downstream from the mine now than they did 10 years ago. (That's a fact). It’s not because they will be “grandfathered in.” That’s just another lie from the anti-mining propagandists. Point of fact, or name calling? Read the initiatives. You decide.

May 5, 2008 - 6:39pm | PuckFebble

another dodge

Twice now I have asked what you think would happen to little ole squaw creek if they put a thousand foot deep pit at its headwaters and filled the valley it runs through with a billion tons of mine tailings. But once again you wont answer the question.

May 5, 2008 - 8:22pm | pmjusa

Why dignify an irrelevant question with a reasonable answer?

Your "concerns" are so obviously contrived nightmare scenarios - out of touch with reality vis-a-vis issues that actually pertain to Pebble. And you've poisoned the well of mutual respect on this blog. Give you a glass of clean water and ask you if it was half full or half empty, you'd want to know which side of this issue poured the glass. At least keep your nightmares relevant to the Pebble issue.

May 5, 2008 - 8:45pm | PuckFebble

Third time is the charm

But of course you wont answer a very reasonable question. Instead focus on me as a person when in fact I am attempting to discuss the pebble project and its potential impacts.

May 4, 2008 - 8:17pm | Sockeyemark

There it is again,,,"Responsible Developement"

We Alaskans will be RESPONSIBLE for the mess they leave behind from their DEVELOPMENT.

Lets Clean Up The Mining Industry before they Shutdown our fishing!!!

May 4, 2008 - 1:22am | Sockeyemark

Everyone Is "WOWED" by Bristol Bay

The idea that we can start putting man made obstacles in their way won't hurt their quest to their spawning grounds concerns me. It is type of thinking that will lead to development along riverbanks, run off of parking lots and industry straight into rivers systems. And before you know it we'll look like Washington,Oregon,California.....NO FISH.
Really, that's how it starts. You think it will never happen to Bristol Bay. It's already started, and Pebble will escalate the process.
It's really about Stopping Pebble Mine, wrong Mine wrong Place. And Alaskans don't want it, I gathered signatures. Well read people said, If it stops Pebble I'm FOR IT.
Won't stop current mining operations, if anything they'll have to clean up their act in the future.
Why do you think their is so much hoopla over this mine....people don't want to mess up the Bristol Bay Salmon run. Leave Pebble in the ground and let the next generation decide if they want FISH or GOLD....
It's my hope YOU can take me up on my offer and be WOWED in 20 years, but we'll go to the Koktuli and catch silvers, rainbows in the fall.....camp by Frying Pan Lake.....then on to Talarik creek.
Your right though, Pebble probably won't harm the Tikchick lakes, probably make the Wood system stronger. Due to the fact that the fish coming in won't have to battle with the fish that once went to the upper Nushagak system....they'll be gone or dwindled due to the Pebble Mine...
Where do they get this title of Pebble Partners??? They aren't a partner of mine or 70% of Alaskans.
Responsible development!!! Yea, tell that to the other people who AA has screwed up their towns and waters.
70% of Alaskans are against this mine......you other 30% can have that 140 million dollars that Pebble wants to hand out...that should keep you all quiet. It's all about the Benjamin's.
Plane and boat are ready, jump on board.....

May 4, 2008 - 8:18pm | pmjusa

Too funny...

First you say it's all about the money, then want to bribe me with a fishing trip! Stay consistent, Sock.

May 4, 2008 - 8:54pm | Sockeyemark

It's A Love ...Hate Relationship

You'd love to go with, but hate to see that money slip away!!
I'm consistent, every time you post I'm right there behind you!! Hugs and Kisses Sock

May 5, 2008 - 12:09am | pmjusa

What money?

Your alacrity is impressive. Remember though, the early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
By the way, I get all the hugs and kisses I need right here at home. Please don't invite me on a small boat with you.

May 5, 2008 - 1:44am | Sockeyemark

The $140 million, 70% of Alaskans don't want it,,ALL YOURS

A lady that's up Blogging till midnight, Someone's not getting there Hugs and Kisses in........It might be small but it makes me money, As long as Pebble never gets going that is......

May 5, 2008 - 11:39am | ebluemink

OK folks

Let's keep the Pebble blog about Pebble, please.

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