The Canadian mining company behind the proposed Pebble Mine continues to spread misinformation. They claim the recent, deeply flawed environmental impact statement exonerates their proposed pillaging of Alaska’s wilderness from any responsibility of likely environmental catastrophe. Pebble’s frequent full-page ads in the Anchorage Daily News show how desperate they are to pull off the largest boondoggle in Alaskan history.
Two points come to mind. First is the abbreviation “PPM,” usually reserved for the scientific term parts per million. The fisheries experts at the University of Washington have shown that for salmon, only 5-20 PPB, or parts per billion, of water contaminants are needed to disrupt the salmon’s ability to locate their home water source. So, basically any contaminants to the water in salmon streams are proven to be deadly for the future of salmon returns.
Secondly, the word boondoggle is defined as “a public project of questionable merit that typically involves political patronage and graft…an activity that is wasteful or pointless but gives the appearance of value….” Our Alaskan leaders need to be sure this “boondoggle” is not part of their legacy.
It is time for Dan Sullivan, Lisa Murkowski and Mike Dunleavy to join Donald Trump Jr. and stand up for Alaska to protect the richest red salmon fishery in the world from a foreign boondoggle. PPB would mean Proposed Pebble Boondoggle.
It is time to say no, again, once and for all, to any parts per million or parts per billion of contaminants to Alaska’s salmon streams caused from the proposed Pebble boondoggle — a “Wrong mine, in the wrong place.”
Kirk Johnson
Anchorage
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