Ballot Initiative Four - Vote Yes 4 Fish

Ballot Measure 4, the anti Pebble Mine measure on the ballot this Tuesday in Alaska has succeeded in one respect, it has fired up the pro-mining propaganda machine in the state and beyond. 

Although Prop 4 just applies to the Bristol Bay area,
not one word about the Pebble Mine or Bristol Bay is mentioned in the
wording of the measure.
As a result opponents have been able to mobilize support and funding by portraying Measure 4 as a threat to existing mining operations and the Alaskan economy.

Of course this is not the case.

Are you wanting to know what Ballot Measure #4 is all about, why
current regulations don’t adequately protect salmon, how toxic levels
would be determined, and who the opponents are?  This section has
answers to general questions about the initiative itself.

 Via: Alaskans for Clean Water LINK

Foreign mining interests have pumped 10 million into the campaign and a new poll shows Ballot Measure 4 might be going down to defeat. LINK

Two major papers in Alaska have endorsed Measure 4.

Put aside the exaggerations.

The
truth is that the heart of the initiative is in the right place --
protecting Alaska's salmon fisheries against pollution from new mines.
   

The
legal language in the measure needs fine-tuning. We know that. Voters
should approve it, and hand the new law over to the Legislature to
clean up the rough edges.

BOTTOM LINE: Yes to Ballot Measure 4, to keep big new mines from dirtying salmon streams.

Via The Anchorage Daily News LINK

As Alaskans consider Ballot Measure 4 on Tuesday, they must look to the future and think about gold.

Not
the gold that would be removed from Pebble Mine by foreign
corporations, Anglo American and Northern Dynasty Minerals, for
outsiders' profit, but the aquatic gold found in the precious
salmon-rearing watershed of Bristol Bay, the thousands of
fishing-related jobs, and the $250 million fishing industry that feeds
Alaskans and their families.

Via: The Juneau Empire LINK

Comments

[TSPEY]

MC,

Thanks for posting this all-important issue facing Alaskans. The passage of BM #4 will send a strong message in our long road ahead against Pebble Mine.

To all Alaskan's out there, please vote YES on the Clean Water Initiative Ballot Measure #4 this Tuesday, August 26th.