Mining Industry Needs Lots of Cash to Buy Your Vote

This is the home stretch, the 4th quarter, the championship round, and the well monied mining interests are pulling out all the stops. Don't lem them buy your vote!

The mining industry is throwing some serious cash at Ballot Measure 4 - trying desperately to secure its defeat. Newsminer.com reports that,

On the other side, it’s clear where the money is coming from — the mining industry.

On Tuesday, the Council of Alaska Producers, the group that includes the major mining companies operating in Alaska, gave $300,000 to Alaskans Against the Mining Shutdown. The mining companies followed that up Wednesday by transferring $350,000.

Alaskans Against the Mining Shutdown is almost entirely funded by major mining companies, with the Pebble Partnership leading the way.

What Say Your Governor Palin?

I caught an interesting piece yesterday on MineWatch.org entitled, “Ed Fogels and the DNR in the Mining Industry’s Pocket,” in which MineWatch pulled back the curtain on the pro Pebble bias which is apparently running rampant throughout the Alaskan Department of Natural Resources – a state governmental agency which, by rights, should at least be making an attempt an objectivity given the current circumstances. Read the MineWatch piece and visit the agency’s website to see how transparent these DNR phonies are. After reading the blog, I got to wondering about the improper ties which exist between not only the Department of Natural resources and mining industry, but throughout Alaskan Government.

In steps our Governor, Sarah Palin, the woman who recently had an investigation opened against her to evaluate ethics violations. It’s not lost on me (nor should it be lost on any other Alaskan) that the Department of Natural Resources is part of the Executive branch – controlled by the Palin administration. So, in essence, the Governor’s office is helping to push out this pro Pebble tripe. Could it be that the DNR and the peons who run it are just marionettes being manipulated by a much larger puppeteer? What say you Puppet Master Palin? What does your administration make of this situation?

Anglo Pollutes the Waters of Ghana

The recently published report, “Anglo American: Rhetoric or Reality” the author, Phil Mattera, details the dirty deeds of Anglo American in Ghana and pollution of local water sources. According to Mattera,

A mine in Ghana operated by AngloGold Ashanti – an Anglo American subsidiary until 2006 and an associated company for a year after that – has repeatedly spilled waste water and tailings into neighboring communities in recent years. Scientists have found that streams in the vicinity of the mine are significantly polluted be metals.

“You wake up one day and you realize your farm is destroyed,” said Assemblyman Benjamin Anna, a local politician. “They say they will compensate but it takes one or two years. So people are complled to go to illegal mining. The way our
ancestors did.”

Anglo company reports also apparently chronicle many other spills between 2004-2006 during which mine waste water and other tailings were spilled, thus affecting homes and communities along Ghana’s Nyam River. Next on Anglo’s hit parade…the Pebble Mine. Alaskans beware.

Blog Post

Today on the Alaskan Political blog Mudflats.com, the author has penned a great article dealing with Pebble and Ballot Measure #4. He writes,

The fates have delivered me the opportunity to actually utilize my semester’s worth of time, and calculator batteries, to vote a confident YES on Proposition 4.

If you need any further convincing:

The proposed Pebble Mine site is located at the headwaters that flow into the Nushagak River, Lake Iliamna, and Bristol Bay (home of the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery). You don’t need to be an expert to understand that contaminants, like the water they are in, tend to flow downstream. Oh, yes…and the mine’s giant earthen dam holding all those contaminants in, is also located on a fault line.

According to the EPA, mining has contaminated the headwaters of 40% of watersheds in the Western United States. FORTY percent. Are you willing to risk the Nushagak River, Lake Iliamna and Bristol Bay on those odds? Not me.

What about other similar hard rock mines? Well, a recent study of 25 modern hard rock mines showed that 76% exceeded water quality standards. SEVENTY SIX PERCENT. This is not a pretty picture.

To read the full article CLICK HERE.

A Bird's Eye View of the Pebble Mine Site

Pebble Mine Plan Superimposed on Anchorage, Alaska

Pebble Mine Plan (in black) Compared With Other Gold Mines

The fascinating website http://skytruth.mediatools.org/ has some wonderful satellite images of the proposed Pebble Mine site. Just looking at them gives you a true appreciation of the impact this mine will make on our region. I've included some of the images above on this post, but if you care to see them all CLICK HERE.

Both Sides Pour Resources into the Pebble Fight

There are two sides in the fight over the proposed Pebble Mine – the mining industry and its various foes. Both factions realize the stakes involved so, not surprisingly, vast amounts of money are being poured into the rival campaigns. How much money you ask? It is estimated that both sides have spent a combined total of $3.6 million; a hefty sum to spend in Alaska. Statistics show that this figure is more than groups raised for all four statewide ballot measures in 2006 (year that saw substantial fights over natural gas and cruise ship taxation) and more than was spent by all the candidates in the hard fought Republican primary of that year.

This costly political battle is resulting in Alaskans being inundated by TV, print and radio ads. Movies have even been produced on the subject (I'm a fan of Red Gold). Voters have recently started receiving large brochures in the mail asking them to fill out mining surveys, and absentee ballots so they might vote early.

The pro Pebble pockets are deep ones, continually filled by the large mining corporations and the board members of the nefarious Pebble Partnership who have the most to lose should Ballot Measure #4 pass. Another big pro Pebble interest is Alaskans Against Mining Shut Down (another mine industry shill group).

Does He Feel the Same Way About Salmon?

Yesterday I posted a story about the Pebble Partnership and how it bought off Ken Taylor, a deputy commissioner for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, with a cushy vice presidential gig at the partnership. It turns out that Mr. Taylor has never been particularly 'keen' on protecting the environment - which makes him an odd choice to work at the fish & game department, but I digress.

Here's an article about his involvement with the polar bear debate during his time as a state official published in January of this year in the Anchorage Daily News,

But Taylor, the Palin administration's point man on polar bears, argues that the scientific justification simply isn't there -- at least not yet -- to declare the polar bear "threatened" and touch off a cascade of effects under the Endangered Species Act. A decision on the bears is expected from the U.S. Department of the Interior in the next few weeks.

"From my perspective, it's very difficult to put a population on the list that's healthy, based on a projection 45 years into the future," Taylor says. "That's really stretching scientific credibility."

If he doesn't want to look out for polar bears, can we expect him to give flying fig about salmon?

Pebble Partnership Head, John Shively, Buys Off Alaskan Official

John Shivley, the head of the infamous Pebble Partnership, has hired a fresh new face for his outfit – but in actuality he’s buying off a state official. The Pebble Blog at the Anchorage Daily News reports,

Ken Taylor, a deputy commissioner for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, has taken a job as the Pebble Partnership's vice president for
environment.

Ken Taylor was recently profiled in the Daily News due
to his role as the Palin administration's "point man" on the status of polar
bears.

To read the full story click here.

Now there may be some among you who accuse me of rushing to judgment regarding Mr. Shively; that I’m automatically assuming the worst and that there’s no reason to assume he’d be using this job to buy off Ken Taylor. Yet, we know from history that John Shivley has no problem lying under oath or striking corrupt bargains with officials.

You see, Shively used to be chief of staff to Governor Sheffield back in 1985. During his time in that position, a grand jury began an investigation into Sheffield. Later, that same grand jury found that Governor Sheffield had improperly intervened on behalf of a union leader when the Governor’s office awarded the union boss a $10 million no-bid contract.

Initially, both Sheffield and Shively denied committing any crime and Sheffield refused to accept Shively’s resignation. Shively refused to testify against Sheffield until granted immunity and when he got it, he admitted under oath that he had lied to investigators on a number of occasions about Sheffield’s behavior. He also admitted to throwing official documents away in his trash can when a reporter asked to see them. If anyone should have been indicted, it was Shively.

We also have some good info on Ken Taylor, which I’ll share with you tomorrow.

Anglo American and Human Rights Abuse

Anglo American owns and operates the Colombia’s Cerrejon mine – the largest open pit coal mine in the world. Cerrejon represents one of Anglo’s biggest money makers, and the story of its construction is very illustrative of the mining giant’s moral depravity. You see, in order to make way for the Cerrejon mine, Anglo American bulldozed a farming community and later admitted to not compensating any of the families for their property.

The village was named Tabaco, a sustainable farming community populated by Afro-Colombians. The village had a school, health clinic, telephone exchange and, most importantly for the inhabitants, good farmland. None of that, however, kept Anglo, and Sir Mark Moody Stuart, Anglo’s Chairman of the Board, from completely leveling the community in 2001.

Afterwards, Moody Stuart said that the displacement was not ‘perfectly executed’. He also said that only a small number of inhabitants were compensated for their loss of property. To call these understatements would be, in and of itself, an understatement.

Interviews conducted with over 60 families from Cerrejon after the town’s destruction revealed that none of the families had been reimbursed. What is even more frightening is that the Cerrejon mine is expected to expand – and the mine’s growth could eventually lead to the destruction of four more villages. I wonder if Anglo is going to treat the pristine ecosystem of Bristol Bay with the same disregard as they did the people of Cerrejon.

People of Bristol Bay take heed.

An Article Worth Reading

The latest issue of Flyfisher Magazine has an excellent article on the Pebble Mine Project entitled, "The Pending Pebble Mine Disaster", written by Jon Lyman. With stunning photography and sharp writing, it comes highly recommended from puckfebble.

Here's an excerpt from the article discussing the environmental abuse Northern Dynasty Minerals has already visited on Alaskan waterways:

The headwaters of Upper Talarik Creek and the Koktuli River are fed by the winder snows and groundwarter running off the rolling alpine tundra. It is a high, empty prospect wandered by thousands of caribou and hundreds of bears and is home to nesting waterfowl and raptors. For the past several years the area has been seasonal hom to drill drews and exploratory rigs belonging to Northern Dynasty Mines, Inc. Although the mining company pledges to follow the highest standards, its drill mud and oiled sites already discolor what has always been a pristine wilderness.

Evidently, Northern Dynasty has a history of breaking pledges.

Mining Into Their Web Of Lies

It is sometimes hard to keep track of the vast web of lies that Northern Dynasty, Anglo and John Shively have woven but today the Alaska Supreme Court shed light on some of them. In their opinion they essential rebut and disprove every argument Alaskans against the mining shutdown have made. Time after time they have tried to distort the will of the 60,000 Alaskans who put this initiative on the ballot and they have been proven wrong on all counts.

This story is developing so there is more to come...

Contact Eric Twelker

For any of you folks out there who suffered at the hands of the recent Supreme Court decision to let the Exxon Corporation off the hook for the Valdez spill, we want you to know that you have former Exxon lawyer, Eric Twelker, to thank.

If you care to contact the Twelkster and let him know of your displeasure, he can be reached at:

P.O. Box 33873, Juneau, Alaska 99803 PHONE (907) 789-6800 FAX (907) 789-3742 E-Mail
mailto:twelker@alaska.net

Anglo's Ties to Mugabe

We all know what a bad guy Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe is, and if you have any doubts this latest stolen election should remove them. What many people may not be aware of are the ties Anglo American has to Zimbabwe in spite of this evil, and even more distressing is how Anglo persists in their relationship with the Mugabe regime. Indeed, Anglo actually is working on plans to strengthen this partnership in the wake of Mugabe’s most recent crimes. The London times reported recently that,

Anglo American, the London-based mining giant, is to make what is believed to be the largest foreign investment in Zimbabwe to date, just as the British Government puts pressure on companies to withdraw from the country.

Anglo will invest $400 million (£200 million) to build a platinum mine in Zimbabwe — a move that has raised concern among some of the company’s shareholders and been condemned by politicians.

The Foreign Office was investigating tonight whether the company’s investment breached sanctions against Zimbabwe. Anglo insisted that its involvement in the country did not break the law.

The decision, which was criticised roundly as likely to give succour — and possibly money — to the Mugabe regime, is in stark contrast to the policy of nearly all other main British corporations in Zimbabwe. They are either withdrawing from the country or waiting for Mr Mugabe to be deposed before expanding their businesses.

I guess Mugabe won’t ever need to worry about running out of money to finance his murderous regime as long as he has Anglo American to bankroll him. Perhaps if the Pebble Mine Project is allowed to go forward, Anglo can collect a portion of the innumerable dead salmon carcasses and send them to Mugabe. After all, they’re throwing enough money at him, why not some dinner as well?

In all seriousness however, Anglo has promised not to rape and pillage Alaska's salmon fisheries, but how can we expect them to care about the salmon when the obviously could not care less about actual human beings suffering in Zimbabwe?

If You'll Permit One More Shot

I’ve been giving Eric Twelker quite a bit of flack here on PuckFebble, and rather than feel guilty about, I wonder why he doesn’t feel guilty about what he has done to Alaska. In the last few days we have received terrible news from the world of Twelker, first working Alaskans were screwed by the Supreme Courts siding with Exxon and now we learn from the Wall Street Journal that Twelkers former clients are opposing what could be the next big boom of Alaska. Read what the WSJ says below:

Many Alaskans are feeling bitter about the U.S. Supreme Court's decision Wednesday to slash the amount of punitive damages Exxon Mobil Corp. must pay for the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. But the relationship between the oil-rich state and the oil-producing giant could get even rockier in coming months.

That's because Exxon holds an effective veto over whether a pipeline can be built from Alaska's North Slope to carry natural gas to the lower 48 states.

As many Alaskans know, Governor Palin has made the construction of this pipeline a key goal for her administration. If Exxon decides to hold Alaska ‘over a barrel’ regarding this pipeline project, I wonder which side of the argument Twelker will find himself on? Maybe we can look forward to more skewed Juneau Empire op-eds as the Twelk tells readers to take it easy on the misunderstood oil giant (his former client). We’ll keep scanning the headlines.

A Banner Day for the Twelkster

Highly visible mining industry marionette, Eric Twelker, must be having a banner day today as the US Supreme court handed victory to his former employer, the Exxon Corporation, sharply reducing the $2.5 billion in punitive damages awarded in the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.

The court lowered the award to $507.5 million, effectively destroying the hopes of some 32,000 Alaska Natives and fishermen who had been waiting almost 20 years to learn whether Exxon Mobil Corp. would have to pay punitive damages for grounding the tanker on Bligh Reef and releasing 11 million gallons of crude oil into the fishing waters of Prince William Sound.

You see way back when, the Twelkster, in the case of Chenega V. Exxon, argued against requiring Exxon to pay damages to Alaskan native corporations whose land had been damaged by the spill. Now Twelker passes his time as a vocal and visible (not to mention well paid) supporter of the mining industry in its bid to build Pebble. The drinks are on you tonight Twelk!

How Could We Have Missed This?

From the good people at The Trout Underground,

Sent to us by the folks hoping to turn the Pending Pebble Mine Disaster into a distant memory, the stunning, oh-so eco-friendly ad below has been prepared by the Pebble Partnership - the companies who want to turn Bristol Bay into toxic waste site (though a profitable one for them).

The Pebble Partnership’s hoping to reassure us sporting types that no way their giant open-pit mine - and all the toxic tailings associated with it - are going to harm wildlife in the area because, you know, they say so right in the ad.

Wow. If only they’d been this clear earlier, I’m sure the salmon themselves would have welcomed them with open arms.

This must be a joke...eveyone knows salmon don't have arms. We've included a picture of the ad. It never ceases to amaze the lengths that mining interests will go to in order to decieve, distort and dissemble the truth regarind the Pebble Mine scheme.

Anglo to Undergo a Brazilian Transformation

According to Britain’s Guardian newspaper, “Brazilian mining giant Vale is eyeing a possible takeover of British rival Anglo American, led by Cynthia Caroll…Although Carroll is keen to retain the company’s independence, Anglo-American’s big shareholders are willing to accept an offer if it is pitched high enough, say City sources.”

It appears Carroll (or the Queen Bee as she has been recently dubbed by Forbes Magazine) might be on the verge of losing control of the hive. What a stinging revelation that must bee! Enough with the groaners? Alright, we’ll move on…

Although Vale’s plan has undoubtedly been in the works for a while, events accelerated quickly last week as the company announced it would sell approximately $15 billion in new shares in order to fund upcoming takeover projects and possibly prepare for an upcoming mega-merger with Freeport-McMoran (US) and Alcoa (Canada).

Vale is already the world’s largest iron ore producer and acquiring Anglo brings diversification into the field of diamonds, gold, platinum and other base metals.

We don’t really know what this takeover would mean for Anglo’s Pebble mine scheme, but if history has taught us anything it is that these mineral outfits most often turn out to be wolves of different coats – they’re all still bent on lambing. Bristol Bay isn’t out of the woods yet.

Should We Expect Anything Less From This Zero?

Well known mine company shill, Eric Twelker, has penned a laughably biased editorial piece for JuneauEmpire.com voicing his opposition to Ballot Measure 4 calling it an ‘error-filled’ and ‘ambiguous’ law – nothing supporters of the Ballot Measure haven’t heard before.

What is interesting, however, is just how slanted Twelker’s perspective is. Perhaps it has something to do with his 35 years working as a lawyer for the mining industry. Whether it be defending big oil after the Exxon Valdez spill in attempt to unjustly relieve that company from its cleanup duties, or siding with mining companies against the protection of wilderness land in Colorado, Twelker never fails to remain unimpressive.

Readers of JuneauEmpire.com would to well to take Mr. Twelker’s opinion with a big grain of salt – or, as the case may be, a nugget of Bristol Bay gold.

Legislative Opinion on Ballot Measure #4

On June 3rd an analysis of the legality of Ballot Number #4 was published by Alaska's District 35 Representative, Paul Seaton .

From the Pebble Blog at the Anchorage Daily News,

"No existing statute or regulation is directly amended or repealed by the initiative. The initiative could change how the existing state statutes and regulations may apply to large scale mining operations."

How much regulatory standards may change is "not clear" due to the "ambiguity of the initiative's language."

"In this instance due to the ambiguity of the language, the ballot summary, arguments and analysis presented to the electorate ... in conjunction with the language of the ballot measure may guide how the initiative is understood by the electorate and consequently what a court may hold is the legal effect of the initiative of the state's regulation of water quality."

And, "litigation concerning its meaning is likely."

If and when Ballot Measure #4 passes in August and derails the Pebble Mine, I'm sure companies like Anglo and Rio Tinto would like nothing more than to challenge the measure in court. It appears our struggle might last past the August vote.