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.

Pebble and the volcano (updated) - 4/19/2010 11:49 am

Lawyers debate Pebble - 4/15/2010 5:12 pm

New geology report on Pebble - 4/8/2010 1:45 pm

An independent study of Pebble? - 4/6/2010 9:50 am

APOC drills into anti-Pebble election spending - 2/26/2010 12:06 pm

New profile of Pebble foe Bob Gillam - 2/24/2010 11:02 am

Pebble, villages, fuel - 2/18/2010 4:03 pm

Pebble water-use violations - 2/15/2010 5:26 pm

Pebble says no dumping in Iliamna Lake

A few weeks ago, a Bristol Bay resident wrote the following words in a Compass piece in the ADN:

Pebble Mine Development Concept 12 envisions deep-water storage of mine waste in Lake Iliamna, Alaska's largest lake and some the world's most important wild sockeye salmon habitat. The Pebble developers have yet to settle on a mine plan, so the public has no way of knowing if they still want to sacrifice Lake Iliamna or if they have their eye on one of the other countless lakes in this watershed.

I've talked to the Pebble people several times in recent years about this concept; each time they have said it was nothing more than an engineering concept and they weren't spending their time analyzing it. (Fyi - Some people might not realize that Pebble could conceivably ask for Corps of Engineers permission to fill in a lake with clean dirt or rock, and then put the mining waste on top of the former lake, without relying on the recent Kensington ruling.)

Here's an update I got from Mike Heatwole, the Pebble Partnership spokesman, when I double checked that Iliamna Lake was still off the table. He said yes, the concept was definitely dismissed.

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