Photograph © 2010 Robert Glenn KetchumAs most of my readers are aware, a few weeks ago Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and I did an event for the Natural Resources Defense Council condemning the proposed development of the Pebble mine in the headwaters of the Bristol Bay salmon fishery.
That evening, Joel Reynolds, Director of the West Coast NRDC office introduced an audience member, Bob Gillam, who has poured much of his personal resources into defeating the mine, creating things like a very clever 'NO Pebble Mine' pin, and an on-the-ground, grassroots, Alaska-based group called The Renewable Resources Coalition. I wanted to acknowledge Bob and his group with this posting and to pass on a very interesting fact he has discovered.
The Pebble plans project the amount of tailings waste the mine will produce, so Bob and his associates divided the BILLIONS of pounds of tailings from the Pebble mine by the current projected population of the world. If you want to understand the scale of this proposed nightmare hole in the ground, you may want to sit down to hear the results:
For every man, woman and child living on the Earth, the Pebble mine will produce 3,000lbs of tailings. That is not three people together, that is 3,000lbs of tailings for EVERY SINGLE PERSON ON THE PLANET. After this ongoing debacle of the oil spill in the Gulf, and the damage that it will have on the most valuable fishery in the Lower '48, are we really going to allow a Canadian corporation and international gold speculators out of London to wipe out the last healthy fishery Americans have? Isn't BP a British company as well?
Sign this petition to say NO to the Pebble Mine
#rgk
Hello Robert,
ReplyDeleteFirst, Congratulations on the recognition by Secretary Salazar and American Photo of the importance of you great body of photography work supporting conservation. It is richly deserved and it's always exciting when the work of conservationists is honored. Your work is so incredible and has such a far-reaching influence. It conveys so much more than
words can express. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I continue to be involved with the Alaska Conservation Foundation, serving on the Finance Committee and still chairing the Awards Committee. We continue to struggle getting nominations for the the Housberg Awards in both categories. After summer ends, I will be looking at how we might bolster response, which may include looking at the
criteria. I look forward to your thoughts as we go forward.
Jules and I are keeping busy and enjoying ourselves. The boat is in the water (Prince William Sound) and we have gotten out a couple of times so far.
I hope this finds you well and if you are headed for Alaska any time soon, we hope to see you.
Cheers,
Peg