Investigate Bristol Bay mine developer, Cantwell tells SEC

Northern Dynasty in February 2011 SEC Waldrop Report filing - "The proposed Pebble Mine design and specifications are feasible."

Northern Dynasty responding to the EPA in August of 2012 - The Waldrop Report is a “fantasy proposal.”

Maria Cantwell - Hello S.E.C.?

LINK (via: Alaska Public Radio)

Bristol Bay Peer Pressure

The EPA has released the Final Peer Review Report prepared by the independent peer reviewers charged with evaluating EPA’s May 2012 draft assessment of the Bristol Bay watershed entitled An Assessment of Potential Mining Impacts on Salmon Ecosystems of Bristol Bay, Alaska (Bristol Bay Assessment).

Naturally which side of the Pebble issue you're on determines your report release analysis.

Try as Pebble might to spin this into a science controversy, the bottom line is this: the facts and the science are clear and no one has called EPA’s findings into question. In fact, EPA has done due diligence and at the request of these independent scientists, has provided even more information.

LINK (via: Save Bristol Bay)

Pebble spokesman Mike Heatwole said it appears the EPA reviewers agree with some of the company's key points, mainly "that the report itself is pretty flawed in using a hypothetical mining scenario and just relying on impacts without having a concrete plan in front of them that takes into full consideration mitigation and how a modern mine would meet the permitting and review process."

LINK (via: Anchorage Daily News)

The EPA's response?

Based on the comments, and EPA’s commitment to fully address them, EPA has decided to convene a group of qualified experts to review the revised draft assessment in light of the issues raised by the peer reviewers. The final Bristol Bay Assessment will reflect this further expert review and be accompanied by EPA’s point-by-point response to the peer reviewers’ comments as well as public comments. These “response to comment” documents will be available when the final Bristol Bay Assessment is released.

My money is on Bristol Bay, and the EPA, when that final assesment is released.

The Myth of "Monitoring in Perpetuity"

Donald Schweitzer calls bullshit on the Pebble Partnership's claim that they can monitor their toxic mining waste in perpetuity. Schweitzer's credentials? He is a former tenured senior scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory with more than 20 years of experience at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Department of Energy,

I would have thought it the epitome of obscene chutzpah on the part of the Pebble staff to believe you can convince enough people that human monitors will hang around forever just to keep returning runaway mine tailings to their source. The great tragedy is that people actually seem to be persuaded by this dreck.

LINK (via: Truthout)

Politics and Biogeochemistry

Our favorite mining consultant Jack Caldwell weighs in on the names of those who will peer review the EPA report that says mine development poses a real risk to Bristol Bay.

LINK (via: I Think Mining)

Anglo American's Pebble Mine Poses High Risks for Investors

Bummer.

An investor advisory released today raises significant questions about the serious risks associated with Anglo American Pebble mine project in southwest Alaska. The advisory details the growing list of regulatory, legal, engineering, and political challenges facing the London-based mining giant as it struggles to secure permits for the controversial gold-copper mine planned for the headwaters of the Bristol Bay watershed, the world's biggest wild sockeye salmon fishery.

LINK (Via: Market Watch)

This Week in Bat Shit Crazy

The latest barrage of pro Pebble Mine bullshit comes courtesy of a Ron Arnold opinion piece in the Washington Examiner. 

You see poor Ron is tweaked that EPA head Linda Jackson would not meet with representatives of Nuna Resources. Not only is Ron upset that Jackson would not meet with the group, but poor Nuna can not compete with the,"large donors financing a slick AstroTurf campaign to "Stop Pebble Mine" and "Save Bristol Bay."

What Ron neglects to point out, amongst piles of other unadulterated bullshit, is that Nuna is financed and funded by the Pebble Partnership and that one of their board members is actually employed by Pebble.

Well now Resourceful Earth, part of the pro pebble noise machine, has picked up on Ron's article and are urging people to comment.

So take a read of Mr. Arnold's opinion piece and then scrolll through some of the thoughtful comments, unless of course you want to question your faith in humanity.

LINK (Via: The Washington Examiner)