Like a Zombie, the Pebble Mine awakens, again (NY Times)

[kmudgn]

I cannot copy/paste and there is a paywall, but maybe a local PNW paper will have this.

Opinion | This Alaska Mine Would Destroy the World’s Largest Salmon Fishery

The state’s governor has asked the Supreme Court to resurrect a widely opposed plan rejected by the federal government.

www.nytimes.com

The summary: Pebble Mine with help from AK Govenor Dunleavy is trying to get US Supreme Court to overturn blocking by EPA. With the present court that hates regulation, the attempt might work

 

[Roper]

One wonders what the citizens think about the Governor’s actions…

 

[Robert Engleheart]

I cannot copy/paste and there is a paywall, but maybe a local PNW paper will have this.

Opinion | This Alaska Mine Would Destroy the World’s Largest Salmon Fishery

The state’s governor has asked the Supreme Court to resurrect a widely opposed plan rejected by the federal government.

www.nytimes.com

The summary: Pebble Mine with help from AK Govenor Dunleavy is trying to get US Supreme Court to overturn blocking by EPA. With the present court that hates regulation, the attempt might work

Coming up on the courts docket is a case that could severely limit the power of government agencies like the EPA, USFW and multiple other agencies:

Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It appears fairly innocuous but persons knowledgeable fear it could have extremely harmful consequences, unless of course, one is a large, multinational corporation involved in resource extraction.

 

[Robert Engleheart]

One wonders what the citizens think about the Governor’s actions…

Dunleavy is a tool, one must remember Alaska politics are majority right and resource extraction is vital to the economy.

 

[krusty]

Dunleavy is a tool, one must remember Alaska politics are majority right and resource extraction is vital to the economy.

Indeed.

If one has spent time in Alaska it's easy to see how a large portion of it's citizens (who subsist on poverty level incomes in a very challenging environment) understandably look at tapping into their vast natural resources as an opportunity to improve their lives. They're pretty much where the citizens of America were a century or more ago in regarding such bounty as inexhaustible. It's hard to take the 'long perspective' when your needs are now.

 

[Salmo_g]

All Alaskans I have met are opposed to the Pebble Mine. But they are in the fishing industry, either recreational or commercial, so managing the renewable natural resource is imperative to their well beings. People in extraction industries tend to see things differently, where abuse of the landscape is the cost of "progress" and a natural part of the cost of doing business, without regard to the fact that the activity is not sustainable.

That's a fundamental difference. The renewable resources like salmon and trout look to be able to sustain human communities for the foreseeable future and beyond. The extraction industries sustain human communities for a generation, maybe two, and then they are gone, leaving the landscape degraded, if not destroyed, forever, which is a pretty damn long time, even in a human time scale.

 

[Robert Engleheart]

The extraction industries and their allies have much deeper pockets.

 

[krusty]

The extraction industries and their allies have much deeper pockets.

As do some of the large scale commercial industries in otherwise 'sustainable' sectors...such trawler fleets and logging.

 

[Scslat]

Coming up on the courts docket is a case that could severely limit the power of government agencies like the EPA, USFW and multiple other agencies:

Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It appears fairly innocuous but persons knowledgeable fear it could have extremely harmful consequences, unless of course, one is a large, multinational corporation involved in resource extraction.

Yep, this one is a big deal, and focused on fisheries. But it could have impacts on drugs, safety, other environment, pretty much anything you can think of. The long-term goal is to kneecap all regulatory agencies so that the only way to regulate anything is through direct congressional action, meaning nothing would ever get done. Remember what happened to the New England cod fishery when it was left in the hands of the industry? Tragedy of the commons, again.

 

[Robert Engleheart]

As do some of the large scale commercial industries in otherwise 'sustainable' sectors...such trawler fleets and logging.

I would consider both of those extractive and far from sustainable.

 

[JudyM]

I just left a voice mail on my cousin's phone about the Governor to turn on the Pebble Mine. He is against it opening, works for Alaska Air in Juneau.
He is also a fisherman and so is his son. SE Alaska already has fishing problems, Kings and crab are scarce.

 

[singlehandjay]

Money has the loudest "voice". This is tragic

 

[JudyM]

My Cousin has not heard anything about it but will research since he is in Juneau. He does not think that the NY Times
is a reliable source.

 

[Scslat]

My Cousin has not heard anything about it but will research since he is in Juneau. He does not think that the NY Times
is a reliable source.

And this is exactly why folks like Dunleavy are successful in ramming unpopular projects through.

 

[Matt B]

My Cousin has not heard anything about it but will research since he is in Juneau. He does not think that the NY Times
is a reliable source.

The linked article is an opinion essay, so I think it is wise to look for corroboration of the facts. Many Alaska-based news sources are also reporting on these facts: Dunleavy has personally lobbied for the Pebble Mine in spite of broad opposition (along with some support, yes) from a big ol' swath of Alaskan citizens. That lobbying includes private meetings with Pebble Limited execs, who coached him on talking points and gave him ghostwritten letters to pass on to Trump administration officials and the courts.

 

[Rob Allen]

One wonders what the citizens think about the Governor’s actions…

Mixed would be my guess, probably close to 50/50... but that's just a guess.

 

[Matt B]

Mixed would be my guess, probably close to 50/50... but that's just a guess.

62% of Alaskans Oppose the Pebble Mine, New Poll Shows

Most Alaskans do not support the Pebble Mine, as a new poll released by the Bristol Bay Defense Fund shows. The survey’s findings are one more piece of bad news for Pebble and its embattled owner Northern Dynasty Minerals.

www.nrdc.org

Loading…

thealaskacurrent.com

(now we will be told why these polls are flawed, which of course they are, as no poll is perfect)

 

[Rob Allen]

62% of Alaskans Oppose the Pebble Mine, New Poll Shows

Most Alaskans do not support the Pebble Mine, as a new poll released by the Bristol Bay Defense Fund shows. The survey’s findings are one more piece of bad news for Pebble and its embattled owner Northern Dynasty Minerals.

www.nrdc.org

Loading…

thealaskacurrent.com

(now we will be told why these polls are flawed, which of course they are, as no poll is perfect)

Well if exxon mobile did the poll it would be called flawed no matter how accurate it was . That said I find 62% very plausible and see no reason to disbelieve it.