Monday, April 26, 2010
pebble mine
Let me begin with the almost incomprehensible amount of value contained within the ore in the proposed mining area. The latest updated report March 27th 2010 submitted to the public stated that from the 509 initial test holes, there are 55 billion pounds of copper, 67 million ounces of gold and 3.3 billion pounds of molybdenum within 5.94 billion tons of ore targeted. The value of these three minerals alone brings us 21.5 billion dollars for copper, 77.5 billion dollars in gold, and 112.2 billion dollars in molybdenum. It has been stated that the economical impacts of Pebble Mine would crush the fishing industry and what little other industry is present. The contrary is true however; with the value of minerals at that level I can assure you that billions will be spent on environmental preservation to maintain this fishery and the areas wildlife. These two industries can co-exhist. I would also like to remind you that the world trade of salmon that we are talking about is relatively new. As far as claims that the industry is part of a family’s culture I agree that they have fished for generations to survive. But they have not provided fish to the world for generations as a means of income. I can say with confidence that the techniques and equipment that allow the fishing industry to thrive as it does today are largely dependent on the last 75 years of innovations in fishing technology. Also according to the Alaska department of labor and workforce development. Alaska Economic trends November 2009 report on jobs in Alaska’s fishing industry, roughly 46% of licensed crew members and 74% of seafood processing workers are not Alaskan residents. Mining is not a seasonal endeavor, and the end result would be the creation of permanent jobs within the area. A minimum of 1,000 skilled high wage jobs will be created with an average wage of 80k. The immediate response is that those positions will be filled with already skilled laborers from outside the immediate area. This is true to some extent, but equipment operation and processing of materials are skills that can be taught in a relatively short time frame. The support community that will be created from the wake of the development of the mine will benefit the area. The environmental preservation industry would create another 500 jobs for technicians. All of those jobs would have to be from an independent provider to maintain regulation standards. Also, hospitals, schools, road systems, shipyards, virtually every service and good would benefit from the pebble mine opportunities. People fear what they do not understand, we need to show the indigenous people that they will benefit from this chan+ge in their economy if the embrace the project.
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I think pebble mine is a great thing for the state of Alaska, from the royalties to the job creation. My main concerns stems not directly from the risks involved (I believe they could throw money at any problem to fix it.) but from past experiences with these large open pit mining corporations. They do not care about Alaska's or the fishing industry, they see profits and losses. I understand the billions of dollars would be spent in prevention but in the event of a incident mining corporations, especially Anglo-American, have notoriously BAD track records when handling them. I believe Pebble Mine should be developed just not under the Pebble Partnership. I hate government programs but maybe the State of Alaska should fund a new mining corporation and keep all the profits, even if its less efficient than a private organization.
ReplyDeletePebble? T here are differences in values that make it difficult to make decisions on Pebble Mine. Many people in Rural Alaska, value their traditional lifestyle more than cash, capitalism, and individualism. There is no dollar value on the culture and tradition. Media portrays the Natives of Alaska as sad and unhappy, because they want them believe they are not happy. There are many happy Yuit in Alaska, because they are grateful for their language and culture. According to the Utilitarian they are satisfied.Three Billion Dollars invested. I see that business scandal/conspiracy/exploitation/ plan. They could have probably used religion and god and convince them easier. They are expecting reciprocity to pay off. Unlike frontiersmen, Natives plan to live there forever, which they have since time in memorial. The Natives of Bristol Bay do not have the technology to leave this earth on a space ship, so it should be in our best interest to preserve our land and our home, and it is not like they want to leave anyways, or else they would not have been there in the first place. To me preserving nature would make sense because there should be more gains from the salmon and ocean than mining in the end. Remember, you can only get so much sweat and blood out of a stone. If salmon continue to return the marginal benefit will continue for as long as the resource renews. Business is messy. The people on the Yukon experienced the hard way. They got caught up in exploiting their own resources, forgetting about their ecological knowledge. Doing business, creating a tragedy of the commons, and depleting the natural runs. Now they are paying dearly.In the Yupik beliefs we must respect the land and animals or else the creator will not be happy, and take what he has given us away. Yupik people are not living there to exploit the land and animal, and that is what their economy is. Economy comes from a Greek word that translates to the action of managing a household.Alaska Natives plan to live here. Alaska is the paradigm of western culture. Given the State Constitution, the resources must be exploited. Sorry to offend anyone, but this could be compared to a whore on drugs. In the end both are temporarily happy, and both end up screwed. I believe that it has to do with the invisible hand and western business.Most westerners are not here to live here (Haycox). Most are here to get rich and leave. They are here rape and pillage the Village, get rich and go back to somewhere warm and sunny. What incentive does Pebble have to maintain the environment. None! They are here to Exploit. I find it a very prejudice idea for the idea that the Pebble Partnership should buy off the Natives and their lifestyle. If they wanted to take the risk of ruining our land lifestyle they can mine themselves. That is is called self-determination. The State of Alaska does not so much respect the Aboriginals of Alaska. They refuse to honor and respect the lifestyle of Alaska Natives, subsistence is not recognized by the State of Alaska. Legislature continues not to distribute wealth, therefore not paying for the negative externalities they are currently causing on the Natives. Native are viewed as a bunch of inferior freeloaders. The justice system is set up to void many Native youth of Opportunities, because of a lack of respect and acknowledgment of lifestyle. Government tried to dam the entire Yukon to create power without even discussing it with the Natives, which would flood most of the Athabascan villages and sacred grounds(Rampart Damm). They also tried to blow up a whole ecosystem without and consulting the locals (Project Chariot).Obviously the State has the upper hand. Why? They are not afraid to cheat and be unethical by Yupik Standards. Knowing that they Native are going to keep their promise; therefore having the upper hand in according the game theory. Why should we trust the word of the State. Most revenue created in Alaska leaves. Our history books conclude that the majority of promises made by American government were Brocken.
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