Consider these mind numbing specifications from the Pebble Mine application:
- One of the world’s largest dams would be built for a toxic sludge lake of mining tailings that would be higher than the Seattle Space Needle. This earthen dam would end up being 4.3 miles long. Another proposed dam would be 2.9 miles long and 700 feet high. More than 10 square miles of habitat would be destroyed.
- The open pit mine itself would be two miles in diameter and nearly one-third mile deep. Add to that the digging required to build the earthen dams and there will be a scar on the planet so huge, the shuttle astronauts will be looking for it.
- Operation of the mine would require all of the water from the Upper Talarik Creek and the South Fork Koktuli headwaters plus 100 percent of the ground waters that feed these waterways in order get the 70 million gallons of water needed each day.
All of this would be built in an area known to have seismic activity (think earthquakes).
The Canadian developer has told their shareholders that as a Canadian company their environmental liability would be limited.
The Exxon Valdez oil spill will look like a grease stain compared to what will happen should one of these dams release their billion of gallons of acidic sludge. And it will be up to U.S. taxpayers to pay for the clean up. Sadly, no clean up will undo the damage. The salmon will be gone and the dream vacations of so many anglers will be dead along with the loss of nearly 6,000 jobs that the Bristol Bay fishery makes possible.
Wildlife Forever is throwing its weight into the fight over these state and federal lands and opposing this expansion of Pebble Mine. I encourage you to join the fight by letting your federal legislators (and if you are an Alaskan, your state legislators) know that you strongly oppose this mine’s application.
 
FIND YOUR U.S. REPRESENTATIVE AND EMAIL
FIND YOUR U.S. SENATOR AND EMAIL
EMAIL ALASKA PUBLIC OFFICIALS | 
