Swampman: You are drinking Gilliams Kool-aid. Don't know where you got your information, but it is not, repeat, not correct. They put this issue on the ballot in the local area. They set the election to a time when they knew the bulk of the pro Pebble people would be out Moose hunting to fill the freezer. After the election, the ballots were counted, and the non Pebble had one vote more than the pro Pebble people. Just one vote, in a rigged election, during Moose season when mostly greenies are in town. If you go to the area you will find far more people are for the mine than are against it. I've talked to the people that live there. They need jobs.
All those commercial fishermen that are screaming are not Alaskans. Oh they claim to be, they have a PO Box in Juneau, or Dillingham. They live in Seattle, and Portland, when they are not fishing. Their families do not live in Alaska. Oh the original owner of the permit may have lived in Alaska, at one time. But those licenses have been passed down from father to son, or sold. Today, none of those people live up here.
Alaska will not let a mining company work an area with out reclaimation when the mining is done. So there will not be any mess to deal with. We currently have Mines working all over the state, with no, or very little opposition. So what is differant about this mine? It's just this one rich millionaire from California, don't want this mine next to his fishing lodge. He started this whole opposition thing and has spent millions spreading lies and false claims, like the idea that the pople in the area are opposed to the mine. Take my word for it they are not, the people living in the area need the work. Steps are being put in place to make sure the fish for Bristol Bay are not harmed. TV Crews went through out the area paying people to stand in front of the camara and say they are opposed to Pebble, then the people laugh about how they got paid. Not realizing they are hurting their own cause. But they got the money, that is all they care about.
But something no one is talking about outside Alaska, and the fishing fleet guys are denying it. They are over fishing, and the by-catch is huge. By-catch gets dumped over the side. The actual By-catch is far larger than what is being reported. This year the King return is so low, Fish and Game is not allowing King Salmon to be caught and kept, through out South Central. Here in the Interior it is the same, we have no Kings returning to the Tanana, Chena, Salcha, Good Pasture, Delta, or Wood Rivers. The Red Salmon Run is the lowest ever recorded. The Chums are low as well. Not enough fish of any type have made it up the Yukon to replinish the runs for future generations. Canada has reported no Salmon have made it into Canadian Waters. They are talking legal action to stop the Amercian Fishing Fleet. They are saying we have violated the treaty we have with Canada to allow sufficiant fish to make it to Canadian Waters. All the fish are being caught out in Salt Water by the commercial fishing fleet. Seven more years and there will not be any fish to be caught, or to protect anyway.
Seattle and Portland are screaming that this legal action against the Fishing Fleet will devastate their economy. What about us Alaskans? There is not enough fish for the people of Alaska to fill their freezers for the coming winter. And those folks don't have grocery stores to go and buy fish. We can no longer run our fish wheels over night. We have to man the fish wheel any time it is running, so we can immediately return any Kings to the river unharmed. A good friend had his Fish Wheel running for seven hours. He caught about half the Reds he usually catches, and only one King. Normally he would have had 60 to 70 Kings in that period.
