Pebble mine could devastate Alaska rivers (Healy, Prudhoe Bay: oil, property, parks)

[BudinAk]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Copper and gold mining are extremely destructive and toxic, releasing mercury into the water.

Actually....no mercury is used at all in modern gold or copper mining. You are probably thinking of the practice of mercury/gold amalgamation the old-timers used back around 1850 to 1950, which is no longer permitted or allowed.

Nowadays the #1 mercury polluter is the burning of coal in power plants that causes mercury to be deposited in the ocean waters. Even the so-called new "clean" power plants still have the huge problem of disposing of hundreds of tons of coal ash, which remains after the coal is burned. Several years ago a huge coal-ash dump back east broke open after a nasty rain storm and deposited thousands of tons (over a billion gallons) of coal ash slurry into a nearby stream, basically destroying it for the remainder of our lifetimes. Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry spill - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

My neighbor insists on burning coal for heat, and the fumes from their stove give me a splitting headache. (usually in less than 60 seconds of first smelling it) Whenever the wind blows our direction I can't work outdoors in my own yard at all. Coal mining does provide income and jobs, but coal burning still totally sucks. Just "IMHO"

Bud

[BudinAk]

Originally Posted by tidelines

If you stop to consider who can afford the ads that have been ongoing against the mine, it's not the locals who can afford that kind of bill. The really big money to protest Pebble comes from over the top believers who make good propaganda. That I believe, regardless of the percentages of who pays for what. Like Starlite says, Pebble WILL happen - it's only a matter of time. It comes down to prostitution because, in the end, the pimps will get their money and everybody will look the other way. There's no stopping progress...or the other thing...

I agree: like it or not, Pebble WILL eventually happen. Maybe not in our lifetimes, but it will happen, when the demand for copper gets high enough. This modern world cannot get by without copper, and when the other copper mines someday all play out there will still be Pebble...it's not going to go away just because a bunch of people don't like it.

Bud

[ShipOfFools42]

Originally Posted by BudinAk

Several years ago a huge coal-ash dump back east broke open after a nasty rain storm and deposited thousands of tons (over a billion gallons) of coal ash slurry into a nearby stream, basically destroying it for the remainder of our lifetimes. Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry spill - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

My neighbor insists on burning coal for heat, and the fumes from their stove give me a splitting headache. (usually in less than 60 seconds of first smelling it) Whenever the wind blows our direction I can't work outdoors in my own yard at all. Coal mining does provide income and jobs, but coal burning still totally sucks. Just "IMHO"

Bud

I live not far from Kingston, and I've spent a whole lot of time there. That plant is enormous. It kind of freaked me out the first time I saw it; to see it in person is just... it's bizarre. It looks particularly eerie at night, with the lights all turned on. It was the largest coal plant in the world for a time. And the spill was awful, 1.1 billion gallons - 5.4 million cubic yards - of sludge. Killed tons of fish, screwed up all these train tracks. Now, the TVA claims that this ash is non-toxic, and maybe that's true, but at the very least, it DID kill those fish, and it did screw up the train tracks and people's homes, among other things. Just a bad scene.

That being said, I'm not opposed to coal mining. It creates jobs, and entire regions have depended on it for generations. Here in western NC, and in VA, and in WV, it's a big deal to those folks. Still, I've seen too much mountaintop removal mining to be able to support practices like that. So the point is, do it responsibly, and don't hurt people or the environment while doing it. Sometimes responsibility does mean that the bottom line takes a bit of a hit, IMO.

Here's my point. I know more about coal country (since I live here) than I do about Pebble, and it's not my call anyway, so I'll refrain from getting all self-righteous about the thing. I do think Starlite has a point in saying that it WILL be done at some point. Still, and this is my main point, there is this nasty, "who cares about the mountains, I want my coal" attitude that I've seen far too much of, mostly from the higher-ups (and outspoken laymen), and I do hope that that can be avoided at Pebble. It clearly stands to benefit Alaskans financially, and that is a good thing in general, but as the Kingston spill illustrates, things can go badly wrong sometimes if people aren't extremely vigilant. I can only hope that they will choose to do the thing right, because I'm sure none of us want to see Alaska's fisheries take a hit.

[Geoman12]

Stop Pebble Mine. The risks far outweigh the rewards. Believe it or not most Alaskans place the protection of th environment ahead of the almighty buck. Who woulda thought???

[RayinAK]

Originally Posted by Geoman12

Stop Pebble Mine. The risks far outweigh the rewards. Believe it or not most Alaskans place the protection of th environment ahead of the almighty buck. Who woulda thought???

Yes, yes, yes! We don't need money to survive, in fact the government should provide us with Obamaphones, free housing, food, and Obamacare. Plus large screen TV's, DVD players, computers, cameras, ATV's, AWD vehicles, boats, guns, and ammo. All produced in the moon using Martian workers, no earthlings so we don't pollute earth and humankind can survive. Free products for all, including delivery. And while at it, abolish taxes, too

[stiffnecked]

I envision one day we will all live in space colonies mining meteroites and Mother Earth will once again return to it's prisitine state free of the destructive habitation of it's human inhabitants.

[RayinAK]

Originally Posted by stiffnecked

I envision one day we will all live in space colonies mining meteroites and Mother Earth will once again return to it's prisitine state free of the destructive habitation of it's human inhabitants.

Yes, like in the the original Movie by Arnold, "Total Recall."

[starlite9]

Originally Posted by Geoman12

Stop Pebble Mine. The risks far outweigh the rewards. Believe it or not most Alaskans place the protection of th environment ahead of the almighty buck. Who woulda thought???

One post and you're gone... Who woudla thought...

I love how people point to mines of a hundred years ago as if that were today's mining practices...

But what is funny, is all these terrible mines of the past are now State and Federal Parks where you can pay to get in and see how they did it in the olden days... Wonder if they issue full hazmat suits so people won't die when they visit these claimed toxic waste dumps of mining past.

Pebble will only distroy one man's private preserve and he owns a high end lodge in the middle of that area he claims as his own and most here couldn't afford to spend one night there, and all these people are his minions. He funds all these crazy anti groups, and for one, I hope the mine is based thirty feet from his property line, better yet, all around his property.

[Dakster]

Gotta a question - When you buy property in AK are you also buying the mining rights? In most places those are two separate transactions...

Otherwise Pebble Mine could mine his property. Just food for thought.

[Metlakatla]

The state of Alaska owns the land where the proposed Pebble project is located. The mineral rights belong to people not even living in this country, let alone in Alaska.