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.