With the chitload of empirical evidence provided thus far (mostly negative); I sense a lack of trust in the permit process. Does the EPA, and associated government departments, need more authority in making said decisions? And if not government, then whom?
Son of a liberal: " What did you do in the War On Terror, Daddy?"
Liberal father: " I fought the Americans, along with all the other liberals."
How does the STATE permitting, or not, of Pebble relate to FEDERAL squabbling over how best to add another layer of Goverment?
It doesn't but obfiscating and confusing the issue at hand with superfluous bullchit is all he has in lieu of facts and the ability to articulate a cogent arguement for cyanide extraction.
�Politicians are the lowest form of life on earth. Liberal Democrats are the lowest form of politician.� �General George S. Patton, Jr.
It very well may be the one and only thing outside of Veterans that [bleep] and I agree on. That doesn't make it wrong...any more than you disagreeing because of [bleep] stance makes you right.
In any case I get where you are coming from but I disagree with respect that in order to be a "good Republican" all develpoment, extraction and exploitation is good.
�Politicians are the lowest form of life on earth. Liberal Democrats are the lowest form of politician.� �General George S. Patton, Jr.
What "might happen" has known degrees of probability. That the company hoping to extract doesn't have many of the answers as to how they can guarantee a positive outcome for all involved is obvious. Experimental mining on a large scale simply doesn't seem like a good idea to me. And I would like to see the Pebble deposits come to market. I would also like to see ANWR get the green light. The trouble is, ANWR seems like a much better option, but a lot less likely.
Sometimes, the air you 'let in'matters less than the air you 'let out'.
It very well may be the one and only thing outside of Veterans that [bleep] and I agree on. That doesn't make it wrong...any more than you disagreeing because of [bleep] stance makes you right.
In any case I get where you are coming from but I disagree with respect that in order to be a "good Republican" all develpoment, extraction and exploitation is good.
Don't fret it, he's just another clueless Wasillabilly that wrapped his flag too tight and cut off the air for too long...
Mark Begich, Joaquin Jackson, and Heller resistance... Three huge reasons to worry about the NRA.
The Pebbles is a porphyry copper deposit, similar to Kennecots huge Bingham Canyon in Utah, PDs Morenci in Arizona, and dozens of others in the western United States that have operated for decades without destroying their surrounding environment.
None of them use cyanide to extract the minor gold values (in relation to copper), and neither will Pebbles. There is a remote possibility that they may vat leach some of the iron sulfides which bear gold, but comparing that to Summitville or the Carlin and Battle Mountain heap leach open cyanide spray operations is like comparing jigging cod to gill-netting salmon.
Having said that, my own opinion is that yes, we need to mine and will not stop mining, but no, some places are just too sensitive to such large scale operations.
The real problem is that long term and permanent mitigation is severely lacking in mine plans and reclamation standards.
just what it is. you eliminate the long term risks associated with mineral extraction, rather than calculate risks that somebody else should take.
For example, lets take the two primary long term risks, which are a tailings containment failure and the acid mine drainage.
You can;t engineer a tailings dam that you can garauntee will never fail. The only way to permanently mitigate risk is to put the tailings back into the pit at the end of mine life. In the scheme of things (like profits and dividends), that isn't unreasonable if a corp insists on mining in a sensitive area.
Similarly, with the acid mine drainage, which is a certainty, not a probability, the only way to permanently mitigate risk is to bring in limestone and other carbonate bearing rocks in order to bring the acid-base ratio to a level that will remove any posibility for acid drainage. Because you are increasing the exposure of sulfides to oxygen and water, you need to do the same to the carbonates (base), by also crushing and blending them into the waste piles, and building rock drains with limey rocks. It will work if the will and funding is made to be there.
There is of course much more and i'm only skimming the possibilities, but again, if Northern Dynasty doesn't want to go through such things, then they should explore in Arizona or Nevada where there is just less sensitive environments to impact.
How did we get from strip mining to strip dancing?
In case no one is counting, every new industry in every state is under Liberal assault, as if creating jobs is suddenly illegal! I think the people of Alaska should decide this issue, not the people (not from Alaska) who have no stake in the economy of Alaska except as tourists.
It will work if the will and funding is made to be there.
I believe this has been proposed from the get go. Maybe there's a loophole folks are concerned about?
the loophole is that the engineers in Vancouver, Denver, or wherever will calculate, model, and project the risks, and if they are wrong, the biosphere loses.
Because of Pebbles' location and scale, the risks around Pebbles should be eliminated, not calculated, modeled, or projected. If the economics of the project can't accomodate that, then the project should not proceed.
Because of Pebbles' location and scale, the risks around Pebbles should be eliminated, not calculated, modeled, or projected. If the economics of the project can't accomodate that, then the project should not proceed.
Thank You much
Son of a liberal: " What did you do in the War On Terror, Daddy?"
Liberal father: " I fought the Americans, along with all the other liberals."
Because of Pebbles' location and scale, the risks around Pebbles should be eliminated, not calculated, modeled, or projected. If the economics of the project can't accomodate that, then the project should not proceed.
If only it were that simple.
If you take the time it takes, it takes less time. --Pat Parelli
American by birth; Alaskan by choice. --ironbender
