A Tale of Two Futures: Alaskan Wild Salmon vs. the Pebble Mine by Joel Reynolds, NRDC

A Tale of Two Futures: Alaskan Wild Salmon vs. the Pebble Mine

by Joel Reynolds, Western Director, Senior Attorney, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
Reprinted with permission by the Author.
Originally published on Huffington Post.

For anyone still unclear about the irreconcilable disconnect between the rich heritage of Alaskans and the overriding financial self-interest of The Pebble Partnership, it was on stunning display in Bristol Bay’s wild salmon fishery this summer.

Earth To Pebble Mine: Stay Away From Bristol Bay. World Conservation Congress Registers Overwhelming International Opposition to Mega-Mine That Threatens Bristol Bay’s Wild Salmon Fishery by Joel Reynolds

Earth To Pebble Mine: Stay Away From Bristol Bay. World Conservation Congress Registers Overwhelming International Opposition to Mega-Mine That Threatens Bristol Bay’s Wild Salmon Fishery

by Joel Reynolds,
Western Director and Senior Attorney, NRDC, Los Angeles

A new chapter opened today in the battle against the proposed Pebble Mine, as the World Conservation Congress overwhelmingly adopted a motion opposing the embattled mega-mine and other large-scale mining in the Bristol Bay region of southwest Alaska and urging the U.S. government to prevent the issuance of permits. With this action, an international body has for the first time formally joined longstanding opposition to the massive copper and gold project — a project that, for years, has been the focus of a relentless, broad-based campaign in Alaska and the lower 48 states to stop it.

TELL THE PEBBLE PARTNERSHIP TO CALL IT QUITS

The fight to stop the Pebble Mine goes on -- but the battlefront has moved from the U.S. EPA to the courtroom and beyond as we escalate massive nationwide pressure on Northern Dynasty Minerals, the last company standing behind the disastrous venture, to call it quits.

Over the last two weeks, NRDC ran a series of hard-hitting, full-page print ads in Washington urging the Pebble Partnership -- Northern Dynasty's legal entity -- to walk away from Pebble Mine. The EPA has confirmed that this gargantuan open-pit, gold and copper operation -- along with its estimated 10 billion tons of toxic mining waste -- carries catastrophic risk for Bristol Bay, its world-class salmon fishery, its pristine environment and its people.

Saying Goodbye to Bobby Andrew, Defender of Bristol Bay by Joel Reynolds

Saying Goodbye to Bobby Andrew, Defender of Bristol

Bay
by Joel Reynolds, Western Director and Senior attorney, NRDC, Los Angeles

I didn't expect the Pebble Mine would outlast Bobby Andrew. He was a fighter who never seemed to get tired. Over 70 years old, and he was always willing to make the trip - whatever the trip, wherever it took him -- to talk, to testify, to tell the terrible story of the uniquely reckless scheme by international mining giants to poison the communities and wild salmon fisheries of Alaska's Bristol Bay with a gigantic copper and gold mine.

photograph © copyright, Natural Resources Defense Council 2015 @NRDC @LittleBearProd #LittleBearProd 

At the age of 72, Bobby died last month, and the traditional Russian Orthodox 40th Day service occurs this week, when his soul is released from the Earth. When he talked, people listened, because there was no denying his personal stake, his authenticity, his legitimacy in representing the people of Bristol Bay. He was a Yupik elder and a member of the Ekwok Tribe, longtime spokesperson for Nunamta Aulukestai, a life-time subsistence and commercial fisherman, born in Alegnagik, near Dillingham -- and he looked the part. The determined and immovable opposition of Alaska Natives to the Pebble Mine was reflected in his face -- serious, resolute, even angry - and he was repeatedly featured in full page ads around the world as the face of the regional coalition against the Pebble Mine.

Pebble Mine 2014 Year in Review: "And Then There Were Lawyers . . . ."

Pebble Mine 2014 Year in Review: "And Then There Were Lawyers . . . ."
by Joel Reynolds
Western Director and Senior attorney, NRDC, Los Angeles
published in Huffington Post, Posted: 01/05/2015 1:58 pm EST

When someday the story of the Pebble Mine is told, 2014 may be best remembered as the year when all that remained of the once formidable Pebble Partnership was a bunch of lawyers for hire. By the end of 2014, all of the mining giants and their funding - Mitsubishi, Anglo American, and Rio Tinto - were gone, leaving only Northern Dynasty Minerals to keep the reckless vision of the Pebble Mine alive. The Partnership's new CEO is a lawyer from the Washington, D.C. law firm of Steptoe and Johnson, and mining activities have ground to a halt.

No Pebble Mine! Pebble asks EPA to 'stop the madness' of potential veto by Manuel Quiñones

Below is the second of two recent articles that reflect the continuing resolve of the Pebble Limited Partnership – that is, Northern Dynasty Minerals. Their new CEO – a DC lawyer named Tom Collier – has been doing the rounds in DC, arguing in the strongest terms that the Pebble Mine is a good project, that the environmental community is conspiring illegally with EPA, that EPA is an out-of-control agency for responding to the request of Bristol Bay residents for help, and that new funding for the project is imminent.

Obviously, we have a different view – see below. I was in DC recently myself with a long list of Pebble Mine meetings on the Hill and with EPA. These articles demonstrate how important it is not to let up – and we won’t.
~All the best, Joel
Joel Reynolds
Western Director, Senior Attorney, 
Natural Resources Defense Council

Photograph © Robert Glenn Ketchum 

Pebble asks EPA to 'stop the madness' of potential veto
by Manuel Quiñones, E&E reporter
Published: Wednesday, April 30, 2014 http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2014/04/30/stories/1059998750

Pebble LP, the company that wants to develop a large copper and gold mine in southwestern Alaska, is making its case against a potential pre-emptive U.S. EPA veto of the project.

No Pebble Mine! EPA Accused of Power Grab By Ben Goad, Megan R. Wilson and Timothy Cama

Below is one of two recent articles that reflect the continuing resolve of the Pebble Limited Partnership – that is, Northern Dynasty Minerals. Their new CEO – a DC lawyer named Tom Collier – has been doing the rounds in DC, arguing in the strongest terms that the Pebble Mine is a good project, that the environmental community is conspiring illegally with EPA, that EPA is an out-of-control agency for responding to the request of Bristol Bay residents for help, and that new funding for the project is imminent.

Obviously, we have a different view – see below. I was in DC recently myself with a long list of Pebble Mine meetings on the Hill and with EPA. These articles demonstrate how important it is not to let up – and we won’t.
~All the best, Joel
Joel Reynolds
Western Director, Senior Attorney, 
Natural Resources Defense Council

Although we have made progress and investors have pulled back, IT IS NEVER OVER 'TILL IT'S OVER!  Photograph © Robert Glenn Ketchum 

EPA accused of power grab
http://thehill.com/regulation/energy-environment/204762-epa-accused-of-power-grab-in-dispute-over-alaska-mine 
By Ben Goad, Megan R. Wilson and Timothy Cama

Backers of a massive planned gold and copper mining operation in Alaska are accusing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of going to unprecedented lengths to torpedo the project.

Rio Tinto's Opportunity: Leave the Pebble Mine by Joel Reynolds, Natural Resources Defense Council

Rio Tinto's Opportunity: Leave the Pebble Mine
by Joel Reynolds, Western Director and Senior attorney, NRDC, Los Angeles
Posted: 09/24/2013 4:24 pm Huffington Post

Yesterday, in Forbes, mining giant Rio Tinto's CEO Sam Walsh, with General Electric's CEO Jeffrey Immelt, offered his support to the process, underway at the United Nations this week, for the design of global sustainable development goals, replacing the Millennium Development Goals in 2015. NRDC has been deeply involved in this process -- one whose fundamental purpose is to create a global roadmap to sustainability -- and we welcome the engagement of these two global companies. We endorse the view that business is an essential partner in designing and achieving these goals.

But we believe it is essential that these companies, two of the world's largest, acknowledge and fully endorse the "three pillars of sustainability" -- economics, social equity, and environment. In their statement today, while much is said about the need for a growing economy, the importance of addressing infrastructure poverty and empowering women, and the value of transparency, nothing is said about the environmental dimension of sustainability or the importance of protecting the ecosystems that sustain us today. In this fundamental respect, we believe they have failed to articulate an effective vision.

Jack Dykinga: iLCP in LiveBetter eMagazine

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Photograph © 2012 Jack Dykinga.  For Display Use Only, No Permission to Reproduce in Any Form.

CLICK HERE; to read the article by Jack Dykinga:  "Cenotes:  Yukatan's Fragile Wonders"

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NO Pebble mine! #NoPebbleMine

www.StopPebble.org

World renowned conservation photographer Robert Glenn Ketchum, a Little Bear Productions client, has a photograph in today's New York Times in conjunction with Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).  This a full page ad on page A9 (NYT 4/16/2012) protesting the proposed Pebble Mine in Southwest Alaska (see attached).

As many of you know, over the past 13-years Robert Glenn Ketchum has been part of a growing partnership of fishermen, hunters, recreational tourists, commercial fishing companies, and Native corporations and villages that want to protect Southwest Alaska and Bristol Bay.  Ketchum has published two photographic books of the region, "Rivers of Life: Southwest Alaska, The last Great Salmon Fishery", and "Wood-Tikchik: Alaska's Largest State Park".  These books, along with Ketchum's traveling photography exhibit that has been circulating through museums, have helped Southwest/Bristol Bay gain visibility within Congress and the public. 

Southwest Alaska and Bristol Bay is a pristine wilderness surrounded by tundra, criscrossed by rivers, and dotted with lakes.  Bears, wolves, seals, and whales flourish in this nearly untouched ecosystem, all drawn by the same lure: tens of millions of spawning salmon.  Huge salmon runs are the linchpin of this ecosystem, supporting valuable commercial fisheries, Alaska natives, and a vast array of wildlife.

The Pebble Mine could devastate Bristol Bay and Southwest Alaska.  The proposed massive, open-pit, hard-rock mine would require the creation of 10-square miles of "lakes" that would contain an estimated 2-BILLION to 3-BILLION TONS of contaminated mine waste at the head of salmon spawning streams.  Since this region of Alaska is extremely seismically active, one single earthquake could release enough toxic waste that would take generations to clean up, and could permanently wipe-out North America's largest salmon fishery.  The proposed Pebble mine will produce 3,000 lbs of tailings for every man, woman, and child living on Earth.  Please don't let this happen!

Join Robert Glenn Ketchum, NRDC, Robert Redford, and Tiffany's in saying "No" to the proposed Pebble mine (#NoPebbleMine):

http: www.StopPebble.org

Igor Shpilenok: iLCP in LiveBetter Magazine

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Photograph © 2012 Igor Shpilenok.  For Display Use Only, No Permission to Reproduce in Any Form.

CLICK HERE; to read the article by Igor Shpilenok and Laura Williams:  "Kamchatka: Russia's Wild East"

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Photograph © 2012 Phil Borges.  For Display Use Only, No Permission to Reproduce in Any Form.

CLICK HERE; to read the article by Phil Borges:  "Tibet:  Culture at the Edge, Devotion, Development and Climate Change"

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Photograph © 2012 Jenny E. Ross.  For Display Use Only, No Permission to Reproduce in Any Form.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE;  Jenny E. Ross, Life on Thin Ice™

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Photograph © 2012 Christian Ziegler.  For Display Use Only, No Permission to Reproduce in Any Form.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE >>> Christian Ziegler, The World of Wild Orchids

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Photograph © 2011 Florian Schulz.  For Display Use Only, No Permission to Reproduce in Any Form

 CLICK TO READ THE ARTICLE > Florian Schulz: 'To the Arctic:  Intimate Photographs of Arctic Wildlife'

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Photograph © 2011 Brian Skerry.  For Display Use Only, No Permission to Reproduce in Any Form

CLICK TO READ THE ARTICLE >Ocean Soul: Photographs by Brian Skerry

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Photograph © 2011 Gary Braasch.  For Display Use Only, No Permission to Reproduce in Any Form

CLICK TO READ THE ARTICLE > Gary Braasch's Images of Change: 'Documenting A Warming World'

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Photograph © 2011 Daniel Beltrá.  For Display Use Only, No Permission to Reproduce in Any Form

CLICK TO READ THE ARTICLE > Daniel Beltrá, 'BP's Deepwater Horizon: America's Haunting Catastrophe'

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Photograph © 2011 James Balog
For Display Use Only,
No Permission to Reproduce in Any Form

CLICK TO READ THE ARTICLE > James Balog, 'Serving As Witness to Environmental Change'

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Photograph © 2011 Miguel Ángel de la Cueva
For Display Use Only, No Permission to Reproduce in Any Form

CLICK TO READ THE ARTICLE > Miguel Ángel de la Cueva, 'Oasis of Stone:  Visions of Baja California'

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Photograph © 2011 Garth Lenz
For Display Use Only, No Permission to Reproduce in Any Form

CLICK TO READ THE ARTICLE > Garth Lenz, 'Alberta Tar Sands: The True Price of Petroleum'


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Photograph © 2011 Robert Glenn Ketchum
For Display Use Only, No Permission to Reproduce in Any Form

CLICK TO READ THE ARTICLE > Robert Glenn Ketchum, 'In Defense of the Natural World' 

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Photograph © 2011 Amy Gulick
For Display Use Only, No Permission to Reproduce in Any Form

CLICK TO READ THE ARTICLE > Amy Gulick, 'Salmon in the Trees'

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Photograph © 2011 Patricio Robles Gil
For Display Use Only, No Permission to Reproduce in Any Form

CLICK TO READ THE ARTICLE > Patricio Robles Gil, 'The Passion and Essence of Nature'

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Photograph © 2011 Robert Glenn Ketchum
For Display Use Only, No Permission to Reproduce in Any Form

CLICK TO READ THE ARTICLE>  Robert Glenn Ketchum, 'Nature’s Tireless Advocate: A Conviction of the Heart'

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Phil Borges: iLCP in livebetter eMagazine

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Photograph © 2012 Phil Borges.  For Display Use Only, No Permission to Reproduce in Any Form.

CLICK HERE >> to read the article by Phil Borges:  "Tibet:  Culture at the Edge, Devotion, Development and Climate Change"

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Photograph © 2012 Jenny E. Ross.  For Display Use Only, No Permission to Reproduce in Any Form.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE;  Jenny E. Ross, Life on Thin Ice™

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Photograph © 2012 Christian Ziegler.  For Display Use Only, No Permission to Reproduce in Any Form.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE >>> Christian Ziegler, The World of Wild Orchids

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Photograph © 2011 Florian Schulz.  For Display Use Only, No Permission to Reproduce in Any Form

 CLICK TO READ THE ARTICLE > Florian Schulz: 'To the Arctic:  Intimate Photographs of Arctic Wildlife'

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Photograph © 2011 Brian Skerry.  For Display Use Only, No Permission to Reproduce in Any Form

CLICK TO READ THE ARTICLE >Ocean Soul: Photographs by Brian Skerry

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Photograph © 2011 Gary Braasch.  For Display Use Only, No Permission to Reproduce in Any Form

CLICK TO READ THE ARTICLE > Gary Braasch's Images of Change: 'Documenting A Warming World'

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Photograph © 2011 Daniel Beltrá.  For Display Use Only, No Permission to Reproduce in Any Form

CLICK TO READ THE ARTICLE > Daniel Beltrá, 'BP's Deepwater Horizon: America's Haunting Catastrophe'

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Photograph © 2011 James Balog
For Display Use Only,
No Permission to Reproduce in Any Form

CLICK TO READ THE ARTICLE > James Balog, 'Serving As Witness to Environmental Change'

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Photograph © 2011 Miguel Ángel de la Cueva
For Display Use Only, No Permission to Reproduce in Any Form

CLICK TO READ THE ARTICLE > Miguel Ángel de la Cueva, 'Oasis of Stone:  Visions of Baja California'

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Photograph © 2011 Garth Lenz
For Display Use Only, No Permission to Reproduce in Any Form

CLICK TO READ THE ARTICLE > Garth Lenz, 'Alberta Tar Sands: The True Price of Petroleum'


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Photograph © 2011 Robert Glenn Ketchum
For Display Use Only, No Permission to Reproduce in Any Form

CLICK TO READ THE ARTICLE > Robert Glenn Ketchum, 'In Defense of the Natural World' 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Photograph © 2011 Amy Gulick
For Display Use Only, No Permission to Reproduce in Any Form

CLICK TO READ THE ARTICLE > Amy Gulick, 'Salmon in the Trees'

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Photograph © 2011 Patricio Robles Gil
For Display Use Only, No Permission to Reproduce in Any Form

CLICK TO READ THE ARTICLE > Patricio Robles Gil, 'The Passion and Essence of Nature'

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Photograph © 2011 Robert Glenn Ketchum
For Display Use Only, No Permission to Reproduce in Any Form

CLICK TO READ THE ARTICLE>  Robert Glenn Ketchum, 'Nature’s Tireless Advocate: A Conviction of the Heart'

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