FANTASTIC News about Keystone XL Pipeline: No Radioactive Wastes will be Transported across America. Ditto for the Ebola Virus.

I don't mean to be negative about a (slightly) positive news item, but this has been bugging the shit out of me for hours and I'm going to fuckin' RANT!!!

Around mid-afternoon today (meaning yesterday, December 16th), I got this absolutely ecstatic e-mail from the Interior Department exclaiming that President Obama has used his executive authority to stand up to Big Energy interests and protect Bristol Bay, Alaska.  And I became equally ecstatic.  YES!!!  For several years — being on the mailing list of several environmental organizations — I've been kept apprised of the raging battle between protecting Bristol Bay, Alaska and the global rapists mining corporations that are determined to rip open this unique treasure for whatever gold and other minerals they might find.  (Google “Pebble Mine” for more information.)

Robert Redford, among others, has been using his celebrity status to push for the protection of Bristol Bay.  Bristol Bay is not only an incredibly beautiful pristine region; it's also the world's largest salmon spawning ground.  About fifty local tribes are dependent on salmon for their economic survival.  A mining accident of any kind could devastate this pristine environment as well as wreck the livelihoods of thousands of indigenous people.

Needless to say, when I got this exuberant e-mail about President Obama protecting Bristol Bay, I assumed they meant the proposed Pebble Mine was toast.

Ahem, actually, uhh...Not exactly.  But President Obama did promise that there won't be any oil or natural gas drilling in Bristol Bay.  Well that's nice.  Nice to know that something I wasn't even worried about — hey, no worries.  The problem that never existed still doesn't exist.

Whew!!!

Anyway, when I got that bubbling jumping-for-joy e-mail, I googled Obama Bristol Bay just to confirm this fantastic news.  One of the linked articles actually deigned to mention the Pebble Mine, in terms of “oh, Pebble Mine will be a separate decision, probably in a few weeks.”

Oh well, let's stay positive.  Have you heard the great news?!?  The unemployment rate has gone below 12%, the United States is NOT planning to invade Israel, and there will be absolutely no —repeat NO — nuclear reactors inside Yosemite National Park.

Alaska Voters’ Choice: Mining Company Profits or Salmon Habitat

Next week in southwest Alaska’s Lake and Peninsula Borough, voters will have an important choice to make.  This region is home to one of the world’s largest salmon fisheries.  And a gigantic mining conglomerate wants to undertake a huge gold and copper extraction project right here.

Next week’s Save Our Salmon initiative will ask voters whether or not to ban all local extraction/mining activity that could threaten salmon habitat.  Hmmm…one of the world’s largest salmon habitats, or higher profits for a mining company…a resource that renews itself every year, forever (i.e. salmon) vs. a resource that gets extracted from the Earth only once (wreaking havoc in the process), and then that’s it…

The proposed mine would be right above Iliamna Lake, which has more sockeye salmon than anywhere else in the world.  The local Bristol Bay Native Corp., with more than 8,000 shareholders, is opposed to the mine, needless to say.  The company’s CEO said the proposed mine is an “unacceptable risk to Bristol Bay salmon, which have supported our communities for thousands of years.”

Robert Redford has gotten involved in this issue, along with a lot of world-famous chefs.  And some of the biggest-name jewelers have vowed not to sell any gold that comes from this mining project.

The proposed mining project is called Pebble Mine.  It’s being promoted by Pebble Limited Partnership.  It’s a joint venture of Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. and Anglo American plc.  And that’s enough tangled corporate-speak; my head hurts.

An attorney for the Save Our Salmon group said:  “It's not a NIMBY thing so much as a survival thing.”

He said putting that mine near Iliamna Lake would be like putting a nuclear plant next to an elementary school:

“To these people, it's completely inappropriate and incompatible with the life they want to live.”