JUNEAU — Voters of a small southwest Alaska borough narrowly passed a measure blocking a proposed gold and copper mine that conservationists said would have threatened one of the world’s premier wild salmon fisheries in a local election that gained national attention, pitting environmental and business interests on opposing sides.
The vote bans large-scale resource extraction — including mining — that would destroy or degrade salmon habitat. The measure was aimed squarely at Pebble Mine, a massive gold and copper operation planned near the headwaters of Bristol Bay and one of the world’s premier wild salmon fisheries.
Unofficial results, released by the Lake and Peninsula Borough clerk late Monday, showed 280 in favor of the measure and 246 against.
The proposal, like the project itself, was the subject of an intense PR campaign on both sides. And the vote is unlikely to be the last word on whether, or how, the mine is built — a court challenge has already been filed.
Pebble Limited Partnership, the group promoting the project, has argued, in part, that the measure would improperly bypass the role of the local planning commission. The office of Alaska’s attorney general has said the initiative would enact an ordinance that is “unenforceable as a matter of law.”
A judge has put the case on hold until Nov. 7.
Pebble spokesman Mike Heatwole said the company would press ahead with its plans, in spite of the vote and passage of what he said company officials believe to be an illegal law.
Voters were “subjected to a prolonged advertising campaign of fear-mongering and misinformation about the Pebble project,” he said in a statement. “We believe this has done a disservice to the people of Southwest Alaska and we will continue our efforts to share our perspective that Pebble can be done safely to co-exist with clean water, healthy fisheries and traditional ways of life, while generating decades of economic and social benefits for the people of the region.”
Pebble Mine would be located 200 miles southwest of Anchorage and has been described as potentially the world’s largest man-made excavation. Though project officials have said repeatedly that Pebble hasn’t completed a pre-feasibility study or formally submitted a mine plan, critics say the potential footprint of the project could cover 15 square miles, with an open pit and network of roads and power lines, and could disrupt, if not destroy, a way of life in rural Alaska.
Jackie Hobson, a supporter of the so-called Save Our Salmon Initiative, said the results “prove once and for all that Native Alaskans will not allow important salmon habitat to be destroyed for the sake of enriching foreign corporations.”
The mine is a joint venture of Canada-based Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. and Anglo American plc of the United Kingdom.
The election was conducted by mail, with ballots having to be postmarked by Oct. 4; officials counted them Monday.
Comments (56)
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So the residents of Alaska are too dumb to know what they want and were only influenced by the anti-pebble, pro salmon advertisements. Seems about right, we keep electing a government that only acts in the interests of out-of-state large corporations. "unenforceable" or will not be enforced?
Sure thing!
And 280 votes should have stopped Prudhoe Bay? The resource has a significant positive value on a world scale--thankfully it's located in the USA.
And Bristol Bay salmon has a
And Bristol Bay salmon has a positive value on a world scale as well.
No to Pebble Mine!
Think about the size of this: 15 square miles! How could chemically treated tailings from this mine NOT find its way into salmon stream headwaters???
15 square miles is bigger than the entire Mendenhall Valley!
And if properly managed, salmon will run forever. But the amount of gold in that mine is finite.
The mine is too big.
It will be owned by foreign corporations.
The risk is not worth the benefits.
NO to Pebble Mine.
One or the other?
It's Bristol Bay salmon and mineral wealth. We have both!! What do you think of Copper River salmon? Do you understand what operated in that drainage and what happen to the fish?
Last I checked we STILL live
Last I checked we STILL live in a Democracy and this vote stands!
I say screw Governor Sean Parnell he tried like h ell to once again block Alaskans from being able to vote and to take away the right of Americans to vote is called treason!
Ballot initiatives create law! Parental notifications, cruise ship taxes (yes, Gov. Parnell, that was a law!) aerial wolf hunting bans, clean elections, clean water and many more have been thumbed up or down at the ballot box.
Alaskans it is time for us to stand up for our vote and our right to vote! The Government has no right Sean Parnell has no right to prevent us from voting or turning over our vote!
Alaskaguy & Yellowflowers
Alaskaguy & Yellowflowers have it right. The attorney Generals office (ie Parnell administration) has already said that they wont enforce the will of the people and Pebble has said "the company would press ahead with its plans, in spite of the vote ". I think we need to get BOTH out of Alaska.
From the Alaska
From the Alaska Constitution:
Article 11 - Initiative, Referendum, and Recall
§1. Initiative and Referendum:
The people may propose and enact laws by the initiative, and approve or reject acts of the legislature by the referendum.
§ 6. Enactment:
If a majority of the votes cast on the proposition favor its adoption, the initiated measure is enacted.
If a majority of the votes cast on the proposition favor the rejection of an act referred, it is rejected.
The lieutenant governor shall certify the election returns.
An initiated law becomes effective ninety days after certification.
Prolonged advertising campaign
Spokesman Mike Heatwole said, "Voters were 'subjected to a prolonged advertising campaign of fear-mongering and misinformation about the Pebble project.'”
Last I checked, Pebbled Limited has spent upwards of $60 million in PR and pro-mine advertising. Pot calling the kettle black? Or maybe the pot calling the corningware black?
Northern Dynasty and Anglo American are Canadian and British, respectively. Not Alaskan. Not American.
Let me sell you a great deal: allow enormous, multinational corporations to come in and clean us out of our gold and copper, kill our most productive salmon fishery, and export the gold to foreign markets. Then let's package it up as "good for Alaska," or "good for the USA."
This equation has happened countless times already. Look at a map showing salmon habitat 100 years ago. Just glancing casually at the history of mining in salmon habitat, we can come to the following conclusion: dead fishery, huge corporate profits funneling out of the state, irate people wishing their governor hadn't thrown their salmon under the bus for the sake of a foreign-owned corporation.
No US involvement?
Are we so inept here we can't even mine our own minerals from our own ground? Foreign corporations selling to the Chinese is what Pebble is about. Alaskans will be there to pick up a few crumbs. If a catastrophe was to happen, these "limited" corporations will bail and the US taxpayer will foot the bill for clean up.
most of the opposition to
most of the opposition to "Save Our Salmon" is coming from a foreign corporation and the Pebble Partnership’s foreign-owned partner, Anglo American, has a very shoddy environmental record around the world.
Do you know that:
A 2001 study of 34 mines around the world found that Anglo-owned mines had the highest concentration of arsenic in their surface water. Acid runoff from an Anglo mine in Zimbabwe contaminated groundwater and polluted the neighboring Yellow Jacket River and harmed fish.
In Nevada, an Anglo mine was the single largest source of mercury air pollution in the U.S. As a result, fish consumption limits were imposed for downwind fisheries.
An Anglo mine in Ghana spilled wastewater and toxic tailings repeatedly into surrounding towns. Scientists found the streams in the area were “significantly polluted” by metals. More than 220 mine workers have died at Anglo American mines over the last five years. Unsafe working conditions have prompted repeated protests from mine workers.
The list goes on and on and on.
There are more than 280 voters in Alaska
This is simply political grand-standing. I'm an Alaska voter and I didn't get to vote on this. Backwater Juneau Empire seems to think the views of a few voters in any backwater berg in the state is representative of the est. 700,000 residents of Alaska. Headline should have read: "NIMBY vote in western Alaska brings expected result for rich sponsor of initiative."
I'd prefer the headline
I'd prefer the headline "British Panties in Wad over American Right to Vote."
I can only be sure of two
I can only be sure of two things......There is plenty of gold elsewhere, and a Alaska company needs to be mining it!
What is the Problem Here?
All this does is prevent degradation of salmon streams in the headwaters of Bristol Bay, something that the Pebble Mine proponents from Europe and Canada have been saying cannot happen and will not happen for years. This measure seems prudent and consistent with what the mining company has pledged to do anyway so what is the harm in enacting as a law that can be enforced by Alaska's independent judiciary just in case the mining company attempts to cut corners?
BTW, YELLOWFLOWERS
The provision you referenced regarding Initiatives pertains to state-wide measures and has very limited application to local initiatives such as the one organized and enacted under local law.
And AKDONN seems upset that he didn't get to vote in this election on this topic. Easy answer is for AKDONN to move to the Lake & Pen Borough and have a go in their local political scene. It's OK with me for the locals to have some say in the place where they live, work and worship. Sort of part of the American and Alaskan deal, don't you think?
A law just in case...
There's an attorney's logic for you; lets make laws in case something might happen that somebody says won't happen. Laws don't prevent things from happening, they simply assure you get entangled in the so-called "justice system" when they do happen. Looks like a narrow majority of the voters of Lake & Peninsula Borough have endorsed a new lawyer employment law!
I'm not upset, either...
The headline says: "Alaska voters say no..." I'm an Alaska voter and I didn't vote on this measure, so the headline is wrong. Voters in backwater Lake & Pen. Borough voted to override the Alaska Constitution and we Alaskans will get to see if that stands. I bet it doesn't but I understand it was just a publicity stunt anyway.
Genius Award Goes to AKDONN
I take your point that no laws are needed. Given that we all know murder is wrong and we have the Commandments, the first thing we should do after we murder all the lawyers is repeal the murder laws.
I think Shakespeare said that just before AKDONN but I couldn't find it on Wikipedia so I might not be correct.
AKDONN is Upset
He wants his cake and to eat it too. In that regard, he is a thoroughly contemporary Alaskan
I love Ich Rauche
Especially when he repeats what I just said (snicker).
I'm rolling a big fat one for ya bud.
Come on Joe, don't play playground bully with me!
I didn't say, or even imply, that no laws are necessary. There are plenty of laws protecting Alaska's resources. You put up a strawman here and try to bluster instead of addressing my points: Specifically, what do you think the chances are of this hokie initiative standing up in the Supreme Court? Are you going to get in on presenting this case? Do you have any economic interests here?
Pebble Mine is just a symptom of a bigger problem, that many Alaskans saw dramatically when Alaska was trying to build the Alaska Pipeline, and so many Alaskans now receive annual dividends from. The mostly outside-funded Environmental Extremists whip up opposition to promote their own economic interests and then crawl back under their rocks when they lose. Because technology is constantly changing we could back then envision the possibility of building an 800-mile pipeline and run it safely for decades in the future for the benefit of a majority of Alaskans. Some now say we could also build a mine in the Bristol Bay area to again benefit a majority of Alaskans into the future.
Small self-serving interests, including lawyers who twist the message of those who believe in the future of Alaska, have conned the people of Lake & Peninsula Borough to voting for something they don't really get to decide. We'll see what happens when it hits the Alaska Supreme Court, but until then the Lake & Peninsula Borough Voters look like a bunch of rubes.
@akdonn: what do these
@akdonn: what do these environmental extremists stand to gain? Can you tell me what their economic interests are?
Economic interests
Their economic interests are: access to public land, clean water that they don't need to purify, annual robust salmon runs, etc. Aren't they disgustingly selfish?
Ask Al Gore what HIS Economic Interests are!
The environmental extremists who plague Alaska have an entire industry of do-gooders making livings from stopping development--even dreaming up causes like man-made Global Warming. They are useful idiots of those who hate America and everything America stands for.
@akdonn: you haven't answered
@akdonn: you haven't answered my question. What economic interests do "environmental extremists" have to benefit from?
I'll even answer it for you: none. Working for environmental organization doesn't pay much. Working as an ecologist doesn't even pay very much.
You aren't making sense, and it's obvious to me you're not interested in looking at things reasonably. They hate America and everything America stands for? It sounds like you're the extremist here, and if you can't articulate what makes them evil or how they stand to benefit, you're an ignorant one at that.
Dollars for the vote
They should have paid them to vote. Just as sealaska does here in good old Huna.The turnout would have been stellar.
Environmental Extremists
Their "economic interest" is in convincing wealthy and gullable Outside people to contribute to "saving the planet" from inevitable distruction. It's a phoney issue, done to change the economic structure away from productive endeavors. Al Gore has gotten rich from doing this while living in a home that requires the same amount of energy as many Alaska villages require, and flying around in a jet denouncing pollution.
If one chooses to work for an environmental organization at low pay, then that is an idealogical decision. The big money is higher in the food chain than Alaskan suckers.
I have no economic interest in Pebble Mine but I know Bob Gillam does, and that is why this issue has been funded by him. It's all just a joke anyway because the validity of this matter will be decided according to what is in the Constitution, not on what is Mr. Gillam's personal quest.
So you're saying rather than
So you're saying rather than play the system and make money off of gold, copper, silver, or whatever it is they're opposing the mining of, they'd rather go out and collect donations for nonprofit organizations in some wild get rich quick scheme. I can summarize your theory below:
1. Convince gullible people to donate money to an organization that is not allowed to profit by law
2. ????
3. Profit!
Also, Al Gore has nothing to do with most environmentalist organizations (although I'm not sure if it would matter if he did). Maybe you should brush up on your science a bit, as you show a lack of understanding of basic climate science.
You may also want to read up on modern environmental disasters, like Love Canal.
Donnie's just got a chip on his shoulder
Ever since he got fired here in Juneau he feels he needs to log in and insult the town on a periodic basis. Just your basic teabag hater - dialogue is pointless with his type. Use the ignore button on him.