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.


Archive

Keystone meetings in Anchorage and elsewhere - 10/13/2008 12:28 pm

Big mineral discovery near Yakutat? (updated) - 10/2/2008 11:18 am

New Pebble data - 9/30/2008 11:38 am

Acid rock drainage at Kensington tailings site (updated) - 9/30/2008 8:02 am

Wash Post: Palin and "mining interests" - 9/25/2008 9:56 pm

Kensington alternative tailings plan implodes - 9/23/2008 2:50 pm

The other Bristol Bay environmental controversy - 9/11/2008 6:26 pm

Watching the Kensington case - 9/10/2008 5:25 pm

Did Palin break the law? - 9/9/2008 5:52 pm

Pebble Update - 9/5/2008 11:57 am

Red Dog Mine settlement in final stretch - 9/3/2008 4:09 pm

Anglo in Canada - 9/2/2008 10:58 am

Tuesday night's election story - 8/28/2008 10:00 am

Various statements today on Measure 4 - 8/27/2008 8:07 pm

Measure 4 results from around Alaska - 8/27/2008 2:53 pm

It's back up - 8/23/2008 2:01 pm

New York Times - 8/22/2008 8:13 pm

Is this ad right? (updated) - 8/22/2008 7:38 pm

The state's Measure 4 web site - 8/22/2008 7:12 pm

Measure 4-related item from ADN's politics blog.... - 8/22/2008 4:58 pm

APOC - 8/22/2008 2:18 pm

APOC: Web site must come down - 8/21/2008 10:20 pm

full archive »

More Pebble data

Posted by Elizabeth Bluemink

Posted: June 24, 2008 - 12:29 pm

The Pebble Partnership released a third installment of reports and data today, this time related to surface geology and the impact of glaciers on the landscape and groundwater in the area around the Pebble deposit. Maps are also included.

Here's a few blurbs from the main report:

...the southwest end of Lake Clark (fills) a remarkably straight-sided and elongate trough (Figure 2) carved by glaciers along a zone of crustal fracture-the Lake Clark fault. This trough served as a major conduit for glaciers that originated in icefields around its headwaters. Large glaciers from those icefields repeatedly flowed southsouthwest down Lake Clark trough, bifurcating near its southwest end into separate bodies that flowed 1) southwest into the Iliamna Lake area via the lowlands now occupied by the Newhalen River and 2) westsouthwest toward Bristol Bay through the broad trough now occupied by the Chulitna drainage.

And

Glacier inflow into the map area repeatedly dammed the three major drainages, creating lake-filled basins that are occupied today by poorly drained lowlands with numerous ponds and silty to clayey subsoils. Four principal basins are recognized in the map area: 1) the South Fork Flats at the head of South Fork Koktuli River, 2) the Wiggly Lake basin at the head of the Koktuli's North Fork, 3) the Frying Pan Lake basin north of the lake with that name, and 4) lowlands at the head of Upper Talarik Creek.

And

"Meltwater deposits in the South Fork Flats and east of the Upper Talarik drainage contain numerous small kettle depressions 20 to 30 meters in diameter and generally 3.0 to 3.5 meters deep. These features may have been formed by meltout of icebergs carried from disintegrating glacier termini, perhaps by periodic floods that burst out from beneath those glaciers.

For more information, go to http://www.pebblepartnership.com/


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  4     June 25, 2008 - 11:08pm | PuckFebble

Thanks

for the information. Now if they would only release who is on thier payroll and how much they are spending in purchasing various media sources around the state.
Even better would be some information from Paul Henry about his behavior towards his employees in Botswana.

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  July 9, 2008 - 8:57pm | njalo99

please stay on topic

this is about ALASKA, not africa, or another third world country.....focus UCK focus

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  3     June 25, 2008 - 7:23pm | pmjusa

Glacial Awareness Needed

Surely some of these offending glaciers should be listed in the EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory. This problem should be exposed and not regarded as a dirty secret anymore. Glaciers dump their reactive tailings right into the pristine headwaters of Bristol Bay and State regulators don’t even seem to notice! The system is broken. In other countries, entire villages have been displaced by glaciers similar to the ones in Bristol Bay. People need to know about these human rights abuses. All we want to protect is clean water. Then again, perhaps global warming will help to stop exploitative sulfide glaciating, besides promoting diversity of species in those presently cold areas… Then, rather than glacier waste dumping into the rivers, mining experts could design and build approved tailings containment systems to protect the environment.

Kidding aside, the anti-mining initiative’s “Clean Water” title is an environmentalist red-herring. Initiative promoters are ideologues that oppose all large development projects benefiting humanity. Read the “Clean Water” initiative carefully and you’ll find that “clean water” is a quasi-noble idea - and dogmatic buzz-phrase for a new enviro-fundamentalism.

Alaska's mining permitting system works to protect the environment. We don't need bogus initiatives masquerading as protection for our already valued and stringently regulated natural resources. That's why I'm voting NO on Ballot measure 4.

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  2     June 24, 2008 - 7:26pm | jokeener

Cataclysm

These glaciers scoured out billions of tons of sulfide mineralized rock and dumped it directly into the pristine salmon rearing waters of Bristol Bay with zero mitigation. No one noticed. Glaciers are still doing this. Millions of tons every year. No mitigation whatsoever. Many think this is a beautiful thing and pay a lot of money to watch the polluting of great river systems.

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  June 24, 2008 - 7:40pm | rfn

In light of this report

a petition is already circulating to put an initiative on the ballot outlawing all glacial activity in Alaska.

Funny part is not so much that people will sign it, rather that the authors really, sincerely, believe they can command the planet to stand still.

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  1     June 24, 2008 - 1:46pm | GrizzleyGal

Pebble's Ongoing Transparency Commended

I can appreciate Pebble's effort to release these regular data reports to the public. While typically scientific and generally a tough read, this does show their willingness to be forthcoming with environmental data received thus far. Opponents of the mine called for the release of this information and have since publicly labeled them useless without a mine plan. The fact that they have been willing to share their data before a plan is in place is extremely uncustomary and should be applauded. There's no question that this is a catch-22 for Pebble, but the effort is not lost on everyone.

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  June 25, 2008 - 7:40pm | pmjusa

Opponents Demand a Mine Plan

Only so they can better plan to oppose it.

The initiative process is in the hands of those who are not interested in rational ideas and arguments. There is nothing to indicate that mining opponents attitudes would change even if the most environmentally sensitive plan was publicized. Needless to say, that is why the "clean water" initiative was written - to place the bar higher than possible for a mining venture to even attempt.

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