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Pebble opponents talk fish with Congress

April 3rd 4:36 pm | Margaret Bauman Print this article   Email this article   Create a Shortlink for this article

An eclectic group of opponents of a proposed massive copper and gold mine in Southwest Alaska, led by Bristol Bay residents, converged on Washington D.C. in the last week of March, in defense of the world's last major wild sockeye salmon fishery.

The entourage of commercial, sport and subsistence fishermen, including Alaska Natives, plus chefs, jewelers and spokespersons for the environmental movement, delivered a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from some 200 chefs and restaurant owners, participated in a congressional reception and held a news teleconference in support of the fishery and an EPA study aimed at pinpointing potential risks of the proposed Pebble Mine, at the headwaters of the Bristol Bay watershed. They also met with staff of members of Congress.

More than 20 fine dining restaurants in the nation's capital also showcased Bristol Bay salmon on their menus all week.

Opponents of the mine say the mine would pose a severe pollution risk to salmon spawning streams, as well as Bristol Bay itself.

"I have supported virtually e very mineral development project I've dealt with, until I came to this one," said Rick Halford, former president of the Alaska State Senate and Senate Majority leader. Halford, an avid outdoorsman, commercial pilot and big game hunting guide, said during a news teleconference March 31 that the mine is just wrong, because of its location, vast size and type of ore body, which could potentially leak sulfide into the salmon spawning tributaries of Bristol Bay.

"This is a proposal beyond reason and that is why we are here in support of the EPA review and 404 © process (of the Clean Water Act) to protect this area from a real and present threat," he said. "This is a major exploration effort. Those (exploration) holes are not cased and not plugged all the way down. Even the exploration is dangerous to this region."

Also joining in the news conference were Paul Greenberg, New York Times writer and author of "Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food; Peter Andrew, a Yup'ik Eskimo commercial fisherman and sport fishing guide; and Bob Waldrop, director of the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association.

"Many of my people defend on these resources, the salmon, wildlife," said Andrew, who has fished Bristol Bay for more than 40 years. "We need it culturally to survive. We feel it is critical that this project does not happen. This mine at this place is not good."

"Commercial fishing has been alive and healthy here since the 1880s," Waldrop said. "There are (currently) some 9,000 jobs just at the harvesting level, and another 3,000 jobs with processing. This affects the sustainability of our industry."

"Bristol Bay represents 400 million meals for Americans every year," said Greenberg. Wild Alaska Bristol Bay sockeye is simply the purest, best fish protein on Earth."

John Shively, chief executive officer of the Pebble Partnership, which has already invested millions of dollars in exploration efforts at the potential mine site, was nonplused April 2, when asked what he thought of the latest effort by mine opponents to prevent construction of the mine.

"They're trying to stop a project that doesn't exist," said Shively, who was having coffee at an Anchorage espresso shop. "We don't have a project plan.

"What was asked by the opposition was that the EPA use its authority to shut us down. Instead the EPA decided to do the study," he said. "Some tribal governments want to stop the project. Others want to se what we have" (before making a decision), he said.

Shively said that the Pebble Partnership had people from the region in Washington D.C. the week before the latest trip of the mine opponents, and that he himself planned to travel to Washington D.C. in the second week of April on behalf of the mine.

Proponents of the mine maintain that they will use the best science available and that the mine and fisheries will be able to co-exist.

Halford disagrees. "There is no place in the world that the advocates of this project can point to the success of having both," he said.

 

Margaret Bauman can be reached at mbauman@alaskanewspapers.com, or by phone at 907-348-2438

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