Dicks of the Week - The Pebble Partnership

The Partnership could win this award every day of week but today they deserve special mention.

From the Alaska Dispatch comes this gem.

The Pebble Limited Partnership has filed a motion in Alaska Superior Court in Anchorage asking the court to move for summary judgment to keep the proposed "Save Our Salmon" Initiative off of the borough's election ballot, alleging that the initiative is not certifiable under the Alaska Constitution and state statutes. 

Borough manager Lamar Cotton said borough officials feel the initiative is valid and should go on the ballot. 

"The borough does not take a position on the initiative itself," he said. "Our role as a local government is to assure that the election goes ahead."

Why is the Partnership filing the motion?

The initiative, if approved by borough residents, would amend the borough's development permitting code by adding a land-use permit requirement precluding permits for certain large-scale development projects, including mining, which will the initiative says will disturb the topsoil of more than 640 acres of land, causing "a significant adverse impact on existing anadromous waters."

Think they're a little nervous?

Anglo American CEO Cynthia Carroll once made a statement to the effect that Anglo American would not develop the mine if it was opposed by local communities. The only reason their puppet the Pabble Partneship is taking the ballot measure to court is they know they are going to lose if it gets on the ballot.

One of the world's largest mining conglomerates attempting to subvert a local ballot initiative, nice.

That's Not for Us - A Pebble Mine Preview

If you want to get some idea of the size of the hole that the Pebble Mine would create you just head 28 miles southeast of Salt Lake City and take a look at the Bingham Canyon Mine.

Visible from space, the Bingham mine is the nations largest polluter and is reponsible for ground water contamination in the Salt Lake Basin. You can see the mine in the lower right corner of the image above, in the upper left is a disposal pond. The mine is also owned by Rio Tinto, one of the Pebble project's shareholders.

Nunamta Aulukestai, which represents Alaska Native corporations that oppose development of the Pebble project recently took a group on a tour of what's in store for Bristol Bay.

Several Alaskans from the salmon-dependent Bristol Bay region toured Utah’s Bingham Canyon Mine on Monday for a look at the kind of tourist attraction they hope never to see back home.

LINK (Via: The Salt Lake Tribune)

Down Goes Fraser! Down Goes Fraser!

The Pebble Partneship recently tried to make the argument that last year's Fraser River sockeye run was proof positive that hardrock mining and salmon can co-exist. What they failed to mention was that in 6 of the last 11 years the fishing season has been closed due to poor returns.

Now a scientific review undertaken by the Cohen Commission has determined that Fraser River sockeye are faced with a soup of 200 chemical contaminants.

The report, by McDonald Environmental Sciences Ltd., a Nanaimo-based research firm, identified numerous chemicals in surface waters and in bottom sediments that posed potential risks to sockeye, including nitrate, chloride, sulphate, arsenic, mercury and selenium.

It said some of the chemicals exceeded toxicity levels for fish and it noted that “water quality conditions have degraded over the past two decades.”

So much for that argument.

LINK (Via: The Globe and Mail)

Northern Dynasty looks to sell Pebble stake

One half of the Pebble Limited Partnership is looking to sell.

The CEO of Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. told Bloomberg News March 8 it expects to divest its 50 percent stake in the Pebble mine prospect "anytime later this year or next year."

LINK (Via: The Alaska Journal of Commerce)

Dicks of the Week

The Alaska House of Representatives has pulled a similar stunt to Idaho by passing a bill requiring security bonds for parties seeking to halt mines or other development projects....like the Pebble Mine.

LINK

Representative Charisse Millett sponsored the legislation.

Largest Open Pit Mine in North America Cause for Investor Concerns

Photo: Stop Pebble Mine

Nearly 30 investor organizations representing over $170 billion in assets are urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to initiate a review process under the Clean Water Act to evaluate the mine waste impacts of the proposed Pebble Mine on Alaska’s Bristol Bay watershed

Led by Trillium Asset Management Corp. (Trillium) and Calvert Investments (Calvert), the organizations hold over 13 million shares in Anglo American plc, the UK-based mining company behind the proposed mine.

Wait, what?

LINK (Via:American Banking and Market News)

I wonder if Pebble CEO John Shively will call his overlord shareholders terrorists?