From the air it looks like just another tract of Alaska's endless, roadless tundra, pockmarked with lakes and ponds, with a scattering of some of the state's craggy mountains.But this swath of land, home to foraging bears and spawning salmon about 200 miles southwest of Anchorage, has been a
From the air it looks like just another tract of Alaska’s endless, roadless tundra, pockmarked with lakes and ponds, with a scattering of some of the state’s craggy mountains.
Supporters say the project, known as the Pebble Mine, would be an economic boost for a remote region that has missed out on the North Slope oil boom and other resource-extraction development in the state over the past half century. It would employ nearly 1,000 people, and the Canada-based company, Northern Dynasty Minerals, would pay for infrastructure improvements in some Native Alaskan villages and provide cash dividends totaling at least $3 million to people in the area.
Story continuesThe deposit was discovered in the late 1980s, and planning for a mine began in earnest about 15 years ago. It drew opposition from leaders in both parties from the start as battle lines between mining and fishing were established. But the project was aided by the pro-mining stance of the governor at the time, Sarah Palin.
In addition to the open-pit mine, the plan would include large dammed ponds for the tailings, some of them toxic, that result from mining and concentrating the metals; 80 miles of road and pipeline to carry the concentrate to a new port on Cook Inlet; and a 165-mile natural gas pipeline for a generating plant to power the operation.
Alaska is the most seismically active state in the nation, and critics said the Corps of Engineers had not taken sufficient account of the risk of earthquakes or volcanic activity and that its analysis of the dam designs was inadequate. Some of the dams would be hundreds of feet high. In a month or perhaps longer, the Corps will make a final decision on whether to allow the project to proceed. Approval is expected.Even after the Corps’ latest review, “the EIS is so lacking and thoroughly inadequate, I anticipate legal challenges,” said Brian Litmans, legal director of Trustees for Alaska, a nonprofit public interest law firm.
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