If you thought that the Pebble Partnership was in anyway concerned about the interests of the sport fishing economy in Bristol Bay, Pebble Partnership CEO John Shively would like to set you straight.
ISER Researcher Criticizes Pebble Data, Shively Shrugs Off Concerns of Hunters and Sport Fishermen
Week 2 of the Keystone Center’s process on Pebble Mine wrapped up this afternoon in Anchorage, capped by an incisive appraisal from a researcher at the well-respected UAA Institute of Social and Economic Research. Steve Colt, a Professor of Economics with ISER, had this to say in a comment summarizing his feedback on Pebble environmental baseline document:
"It is fair to say that this chapter (of Pebble’s EBD), as written, diminished the importance and role of the sport fishing economy in the regional economy in a way that is not supported by the data. You need to recognize that this is an industry that is tied to the world market."
In response to a question about the noneconomic, yet very important experientail, dimensions of fishing in Bristol Bay, Pebble Limited Partnership CEO John Shively, brusquely shrugged off the concerns of hunters and fishermen, essentially telling them their money, jobs, and way of life don’t matter.
“You cannot assume that all the people who go out there are individual people willing to spend $6,000-$8,000,” said Shively. “There is a huge amount of corporate money that is spent that are largely tax write offs that supports that recreational lodge industry out there and so if we are going to do that kind of thing and make that information meaningful we have to understand all the different users.”
LINK (via: Headwaters)
Shively's response was also captured on audio.