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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.

Want to vote?

Posted by pebble_blog

Posted: July 24, 2008 - 11:17 am

Don't forget to register, if you haven't.
Several folks have mentioned to me that the deadline is July 26 for voting in the Aug. 26 primary.
According to the state Division of Elections web site, the deadline is July 27.
For more details, look here.

login or register to post comments

7 July 27, 2008 - 4:37pm | Sockeyemark

Save a miner, kill a salmon

The heck with clean water and salmon, vote no on prop 4

July 27, 2008 - 4:47pm | rfn

Got it backwards!

It's commercial fishermen who kill salmon.

For their own greedy gain....leaving little for subsistence users.

July 27, 2008 - 4:57pm | Sockeyemark

OK, Save a salmon, kill a miner

We want salmon and clean water , vote yes on prop 4
are you happy now..... your a hard bunch to satisfy

July 27, 2008 - 8:09pm | rfn

In your headline

your true agenda shines like a brilliant star in the northern sky!

July 27, 2008 - 10:23pm | Sockeyemark

Hello Vern, am I pearcing the void!

Kill Pebble Mine, save a miner!!!

July 28, 2008 - 8:42am | rfn

What's

"pearcing"?

I'm searching for the true motive behind the ballot question.

Obviously it has nothing to do with clean water since its' proponents don't want clean water. They proved that when they begged for loopholes in a national clean water act to let them keep dumping unmentionable stuff into the waters in which salmon live.

Could it be that those accusations that came out of the miner's meeting a while back have some substance?

Nawwwww.....not possible.

Or IS it?

July 28, 2008 - 12:07pm | pmjusa

Very probable...

See article here: http://www.newsminer.com/news/2008/apr/20/take-time-dig-truth-mining-initiatives/

6 July 27, 2008 - 2:26pm | Sockeyemark

The Miners are right

Vote no on prop 4!!!!
Clean water and salmon are overrated......plenty of regs out there already.....leave the poor miners alone!
Pebble Mine will govern itself, they'll do the right thing.
Join the Pebble Partnership and your troubles will be over.......Come on Alaskans when has big business ever let you down. Ease up on these guys, they have plenty of rules to follow. The water that these guys discharge could be used by the bottling companies, could be a side business for them in fact....please ignore prop 4 on August 26th.....bunch of bird brained imbeciles wrote this piece of junk anyway...

July 27, 2008 - 3:09pm | rfn

If clean water and salmon were important

then commercial fishers would never have begged and pleaded for exemption from the just-passed clean water regulations that don't even approach the severity of those they're trying to use to outlaw all mining.

Since they don't care about clean water there definitely is no need for another pointless regulation and all the existing regulations can be deleted. That would put mining on equal footing with mining so far as toxic discharges are concerned.

Thank you for pointing this out!

BTW, an first excellent step, Laird Gillam would be to tear down that lodge!

July 27, 2008 - 3:25pm | Sockeyemark

Your totally right, clean water and salmon are overrated

Been a huge waste of time and money for you folks, your the epitome of a well run business. I think your business is run way better than any fishing boat or industry could ever dream of.
I'm hoping that government will come down hard on the fishing industry, the world would be a better place without their pollution dumping into fresh water systems.
I'll be flying out to Lake Clarke ASAP to start tearing down that lodge. It's an eyesore compared to the mining industry.

July 27, 2008 - 3:28pm | rfn

About that exemption....

I failed to mention "beseeched" and "supplicated" in describing the quest to avoid responsibility for trash and sewage dumping into Alaska's pristine waters.

July 27, 2008 - 3:45pm | Sockeyemark

Don't know why boaters should be exempted from rules

Boating industry is one of the filthiest businesses out there. I believe they should not be shutting down the mining but in fact should be shutting down the boaters in this world, the true scoundrels of the sea...always have been.
When you start that petition to shut down the boaters of the world let me know and I'll help you. I know people who are standing in line to sign that one.
Alaska would be a better place if all the boating was to be shut down, should follow the lead of the mining industry in how they treat the environment.
Vote no on prop 4, save the miners.

July 27, 2008 - 4:51pm | rfn

Nice try at spin!

Nobody wants to shut down boaters.

Just make them clean up their act.

It's entirely reasonable for people to use boats so long as they return to shore to dispose of their filth. Not even a minor issue for most boaters. They spend a good part of their time going from place to place and coming ashore is no problem at all.

It's the polluters who go out for an entire day...or days on end...and sluice their decks into the once pristine water. Of course the crestfallen white-butts do their part to ensure disease is spread far and wide.

No need at all to shut down boating, just as there's no need to shut down mining. Just insist the rules be followed and the water be kept clean. No exceptions to existing rules needed at all. Unfortunately some were carved out for a select few on the water. This, of course, must be brought into alignment with good sanitary practices before we all die.

5 July 26, 2008 - 7:17pm | rfn

Prediction:

Should this travesty pass it will be a matter of days before an initiative petition circulates tightening Alaska's laws concerning wanton waste (so-called "bycatch") and pollution from boats so as to make the federal law look downright benign. The murders of the salmon think they got a free pass from their friends in Congress. Keep on thinking that. Please.

Mind ye, it won't be a petition to ban fishing. Just one to cripple it entirely through insisting on compliance with all the rules intended to keep the water clean.

"Clean Water V"

July 26, 2008 - 7:37pm | Sockeyemark

Sorry to say that will be an uphill battle

More fishermen in this state than miners......our industry pales in comparison to the mining pollution.

July 26, 2008 - 8:32pm | NoBob

I thought you said you were a fisherman, Mark?

Haven't you ever been down to a boat harbor? Pitty the owner of a white boat. There's all sorts of yuck. Stuff like that at a mine would be cause for a federal case. (No federal case for fishermen, since they got their Clean Water Act exemption, I guess.)

July 26, 2008 - 8:04pm | rfn

There is that.

However we'll soon be living in obamanation and perhaps it won't have to be a one-state initiative. Ought not be hard to convince the enviro-left that the exemption for commercial fishers was an evil capitalist perversion of the rights of our fine finned friends.

In fact, that DOES seem like an even more effective approach!

Thank you for the excellent suggestion.

July 26, 2008 - 8:14pm | Sockeyemark

Good Luck, you'll be busy

Too busy to bother us poor Bristol Bay fishermen that is..

July 26, 2008 - 8:16pm | rfn

Did your crew

at least go to a church and have a memorial service for those murdered fish before scampering off to their southern nomes?

By the way, exceedingly bad form to use the word "poor" in this context after all the bragging about the income to your crew and self from the soulless slaughter of salmon!

July 26, 2008 - 8:47pm | Sockeyemark

Poor we'll be if the mine is started

Not bragging, just letting the world know that the Bristol Bay sockeye run is alive and well......Doing fine without the Pebble Mine!!

July 27, 2008 - 10:42am | rfn

Surely the run

will do far better when the mine is in full and properly monitored production and the fish are protected from exploitation by a few selfish individuals who threaten the life of very fish in the water.

When the waters are no longer fouled by the slop hosed off the decks and the crestfallen white-butt* no longer perches on the rail to "tend to business" in the very water where fish struggle to survive. Amazing how some folks are confident consumers, were they made fully aware, might want to look at - much less eat - fish that have had to breathe the filth spewed by those greedy few.

* Crestfallen white-butt - a species not deserving of any environmental protection. Indeed an invasive species that must be wiped out if fish and any other users of Mother Nature's water are to survive.

4 July 26, 2008 - 4:37pm | ahnamarlene

VOTING PROCEDURES

Keep in mind you must abide by state law,only election workers there,no radios(where it has certain ADVERTISMENTS on them)Each polling place should have ONE pole watchcher representing a BALLOT issue,and have a VALID poll watcher badge,Also no electioneering within 200 feet from the voting polls,this means if your having these voting in a public building,YOU must BY law take down any ballot issues or canidates from your walls,or COVER them till after the election is over,VOTE WITH YOUR own ADVICE,GOOD LUCK and VOTE on august 26th...

3 July 26, 2008 - 4:03pm | Sockeyemark

I'll miss this blog after August 26th

The people of Alaska will vote for clean water and salmon, the mining industry knows it.
They might as well save their millions of ad dollars and start figuring out how to run their business right.

July 26, 2008 - 8:07pm | rfn

Just get retitled as

Just get retitled as environmentally conscious Alaskans get the bit in their teeth and insist that fishers clean up their act and their decks and their toilets and their trash.

Perhaps something that makes it mandatory for any boat with a person aboard needing to answer a call of nature return to shore for relief. Can't risk having tanks of sewage on board like a mini Exxon Valdez just itching to spew!

July 26, 2008 - 5:50pm | njalo99

....

maybe will start taking notes on how to whine loud enough to get @@@@ off of our backs, works for the fisherman, hell we outta make it work for us ..............

July 26, 2008 - 5:47pm | njalo99

I'll miss it too because then all the fisherman of BB will realize they can't lock up their little corner of the world, I can't wait to start mining there

July 26, 2008 - 5:52pm | Sockeyemark

Remember how long it took for the Exxon decision

You'll be sitting in your rocking chair before a shovel of dirt ever moves from Pebble....

July 26, 2008 - 5:56pm | njalo99

your right

BUT I will be there when the first shovel moves the dirt, hell I might just pack it home for a souvenir.

July 26, 2008 - 5:51pm | njalo99

LOL

have shovel will travel.........LOL

2 July 25, 2008 - 8:51pm | jokeener

Save the salmon

Can the fisherman stand the test of the own conviction? No. Absolutely, not. They are pikers of the screechiest sort. Bristol Bay should be shut down for fishing altogether in order to save the salmon from the annual slaughter. It has yet to be shown that the Pebble mine would impact a single fish; and yet, fishermen proudly report their annual contribution to the death and maiming of millions of our finned brethren. It is easily shown that the fisherman are the number one polluter and decimator of Bristol Bay.

July 25, 2008 - 9:51pm | Sockeyemark

Guess your name implies

You must be joking. A renewable resource that feeds millions, Bristol Bay is truly a gift from heaven. If we continue to take care of it, it will last for generations to come.
But it can be ruined overnight, VOTE Yes on Prop 4 . August 26th......clean water and salmon for all

July 26, 2008 - 5:54pm | njalo99

like you took care of it in the late 80's and early 90's, good thing the salmon are finally starting to come back.... ohh yeah the BB fisherman are the most conservitive in the world, we take care of our fish....hypocrites

July 26, 2008 - 6:22pm | Sockeyemark

Everything in this world runs in cycles, including mining

The wheels on the bus go round and round....if you stick around long enough you'll see all the ups and downs.
But right now the cycle is for keeping the environment clean,perserving fish habitat and development of a gold mine will have to wait for the next cycle.
See you in 20 years.........until then vote for prop 4#

July 26, 2008 - 11:32am | rfn

Met this nice lady from Scotland

in a coffee shop today.

She spoke of the difference in linguistic usages that has caused some confusion. For example, she was staying in a hotel (as opposed to a motel). She asked the clerk at the desk (she pronounced it "clark") to please "knock her up" at 7. Got a very strange reaction.

She also asked why we call the pursuit of salmon "fishing" when, in Scotland they call it what it is: "killing salmon".

I asked about whether the runs are declining and she said it was not so because there was no commercial fishing allowed. She was rather proud, though, that sport fishing is allowed but NOT any form of subsistence. Rooted in the feudal system under which salmon are reserved for the upper class. I told her about the lodges for wealthy "sports fishers". She was relieve to hear that Alaska does, indeed, have "Royalty"!

I rather liked that lady.....

July 26, 2008 - 3:42pm | Sockeyemark

Did she tell you that they only have Atlantic salmon there

And very few of them, they have been exploited to the point they barely exist. That is why there main business is farmed Atlantic salmon. There rivers and lakes can no longer support salmon, haven't for the past 50 years. Industrialization, over fishing and poor management of their resources is to blame.
Will not happen here in Alaska, we take care of our habitat, fish and game. Atlantic salmon are a much inferior fish anyway, sockeyes are the most healthiest fish to eat.
While are runs are healthy here is Alaska, they must be watched over so that mines such as Pebble don't wipe out what precious food source we have left..
Gotta like those Scott's, they haven't much natural resources left over there but you can't blow smoke up their kilts either. They wouldn't screw up the worlds largest salmon run either.

July 26, 2008 - 3:54pm | rfn

Nay, laddie

The bonnie streams of Scotland run mightily with Salmon. A strong northern variety; far more tasty (say the rich and powerful) than the spavined Pacific variety. Possibly because all the really hearty ones have been taken by those trawlers from other lands leaving a week sort of dreg. Not my word; just what the Lairds say. Y'know, those wealthy landowners whose lodges are so opulent. But you, of course, know about opulent lodges and the humble gillies (guides) they hire.

The reason the Scottish resource remains strong and flourishing is that they had the wisdom to outlaw any commercialization of the fishery. Used to be an offense worthy of being drawn and quartered to poach The Laird's salmont. I'm sure there are those who feel that attachment to their lodges and the lands that belong to the people to wish for that level of punishment. But they have not managed to get that put in law.

Not yet.

Ye must give it up if you love the fishies....they need protection from those who exploit them for filthy lucre! And, in the process, flush their wastes overboard so the very fish they catch are filled with germs!

July 26, 2008 - 12:02pm | CingRed

I like it

Kinda has a ring to it...Sir Gilliam or Sir Hackney.

July 26, 2008 - 12:27pm | rfn

I forgot she also spoke

of the occasional schools they run for the children of the serfs to become "gillies". Kind like a school for fishing guides in reverse. Not to bring people to the streams; rather to run them off for attempting to kill "salmont" on "the Laird's" preserve.

Sound vaguely familiar?

July 26, 2008 - 8:45am | jokeener

What's in a name

And you name would mean what? That you're a fish-faced stooge?

There is no reason to think that we can't have mining and fish, together.

It is true that mining does not need fishing and it is also true that fishing must have mining. What do fishermen catch their fish with? Hands? Mouths? Sticks? Bone and sinew? No --- metal and hydrocarbons. Fisherman must have mining.

Responsible fishermen would insist that such mining take place in their own backyards, rather than somebody else's backyard.

Vote No on the Enrich the Lawyers/Impoverish the Villagers Measure No. 4!

1 July 25, 2008 - 1:07am | PuckFebble

Thanks...

I appreciate it!
Anyone wanting to vote absentee can check this out. http://www.elections.alaska.gov/abinfo.php

Regardless of what one thinks about prop 4, there are plenty of other very important issues to vote on that day. All of the primaries for the November elections are that day as well. If one wants the same or change, either way, have your voice be heard.
Every vote counts.

July 25, 2008 - 8:46am | Sockeyemark

Get out and Vote

It's been a rainy summer, many will be at home. This should be a good turn out. Should be a landslide victory for Clean Water and Salmon!!! Yes on prop 4#

July 25, 2008 - 2:49pm | rfn

No doubt there'll be somewhat of a turnout

if those murderers of our finned friends have come back from their marauding.

The hypocrites!

"Save the salmon" and then they go out and attempt geoncide!

July 25, 2008 - 3:03pm | NoBob

Speaking of hypocrites . . .

I hope people here noticed that the fishermen got themselves exempted from the Clean Water Act: http://www.sitnews.us/0708news/072208/072208_fishingvessels.html They want more pollution for themselves and less for miners. Go figure.

July 26, 2008 - 8:54am | jokeener

Excellent research NoBob

Once again, the fisherman are proven to be pikers of the screechiest sort. "The law applies to thee, but not to me."

Thanks, this should get much wider circulation.

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