** Recordings reveal scale of Alaska's Pebble Mine will be bigger than expected
------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, September 22, 2020
Photo: Alaska Region, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service ([link removed])
Recordings ([link removed]) of conversations among mining executives reveal that the controversial Pebble Mine in southwest Alaska could operate for longer and at a larger scale ([link removed]) than the proposal that is currently awaiting final approval by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
After extensive industry lobbying, the Corps of Engineers issued a final environmental impact statement last month ([link removed]) declaring that the project would not cause ([link removed]) “long-term changes in the health of the commercial fisheries.” The Corps of Engineers is expected to make a final decision on a permit for the project in the coming weeks. If approved, it would allow construction to begin. However, the recordings among executives reveal ([link removed]) that the project could last 160
years beyond its stated 20-year timeline and the output would double within the first two decades, essentially rendering the project proposal currently under consideration irrelevant.
Environmentalists and local communities have fought against the open pit gold and copper mine for over a decade due to concerns it could have irreversible damage on the fragile arctic ecosystem, including for salmon populations that Alaska Native subsistence fishermen rely on. Alannah Hurley, the executive director of United Tribes of Bristol Bay, a Native group that opposes the mine, said the recordings were ([link removed]) “very clear evidence that this company is not telling the truth...They’ve lied to everyone about what this project looks like and what their intentions are. It’s time now for our elected leadership to stand up for Alaskans and stop this corrupt process.”
Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski responded to the ([link removed]) revelations in the recordings ([link removed]) , including accusations ([link removed]) that she was secretly in favor of the mine, saying ([link removed]) , “I am dead set on a high bar for large-scale resource development in the Bristol Bay watershed. The reality of this situation is the Pebble project has not met that bar and a permit cannot be issued to it.”
Quick hits
** Federal government still owed $50 million in delinquent royalties from bankrupt coal company
------------------------------------------------------------
Casper Star-Tribune ([link removed])
** Recordings reveal scale of Alaska's Pebble Mine will be bigger than expected
------------------------------------------------------------
New York Times ([link removed]) | Washington Post ([link removed])
** BLM partnership with prison inmates to grow sagebrush seedlings also benefits sage-grouse
------------------------------------------------------------
Casper Star-Tribune ([link removed])
** Hundreds of dead birds found in Colorado as massive die-off sweeps across western states
------------------------------------------------------------
Vail Daily ([link removed])
** "Threatened" status upheld by federal government for New Mexico's Yellow-billed Cuckoo bird
------------------------------------------------------------
Carlsbad Current-Argus ([link removed])
** Four million acres of Oregon's public lands are closed due to wildfires
------------------------------------------------------------
Salem Statesman Journal ([link removed])
** Entrance to national parks is free this Saturday, September 26th for National Public Lands Day
------------------------------------------------------------
Travel & Leisure ([link removed])
** Opinion: Trump is no Teddy Roosevelt when it comes to conservation
------------------------------------------------------------
USA Today ([link removed])
Quote of the day
I’ve said this several times, and it rings true, that this project is a two-fold reclamation project. The planting of the seedlings helps restore sagebrush to mined and disturbed areas and the growing of those seedlings helps reclaim the hearts and minds of the inmates who participate.”
—Gina Clingerman, Bureau of Land Management ([link removed])
Picture this
** National Interagency Fire Center, @NIFC_Fire ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
#NationalFireNews ([link removed]) : Currently, 78 large fires have burned 3.9 million acres. Nearly 32,000 firefighters and support personnel are assigned to wildfires across the West. To date 43,598 wildfires have burned 6,982,242 acres, which is above 10-year average. #FireYear2020 ([link removed])
============================================================
** Twitter ([link removed])
** Facebook ([link removed])
** Medium ([link removed])
** Instagram ([link removed])
Copyright © 2020 Center for Western Priorities, All rights reserved.
You've signed up to receive Look West updates.
Center for Western Priorities
1999 Broadway
Suite 520
Denver, CO 80202
USA
** View this on the web ([link removed])
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
