By Kari Lydersen, AlterNet. Posted August 29, 2008.
... on Aug. 26, Alaskans voted down a ballot measure that proponents had cast as crucial to the future survival of Bristol Bay salmon. Ballot measure 4, which survived a challenge that went all the way to the state Supreme Court to remain on the state's primary ballot, would have prohibited large metal mines from contaminating salmon streams and drinking water sources. Though by law the ballot measure couldn't name a specific project, everyone knew it was aimed at the proposed Pebble Mine, which if developed as planned would be North America's largest open pit gold mine, also mining copper and molybdenum (a crucial element in steel).
Opponents of the ballot measure, which was defeated by 57 percent of voters (95,338 to 71,456), called it a "mining shutdown" and said it could not only block the Pebble Mine but paralyze Alaskan mining in general and force existing mines to close. Much of Alaska was settled during the gold rush of the late 1800s and early 1900s, and like oil, mining is seen by many as central to the state's economy and identity. It is also seen as an economic lifeline in a time of astronomically high energy prices and stagnation in fishery profits partly because of competition from Chilean and Norwegian fish farms.
Multinational mining giant Anglo American and its Canadian partner in the venture, Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd., say they will safely contain waste from Pebble Mine, namely the sulfuric acid that results when sulfide ore is disturbed and exposed to oxygen -- also known as acid mine drainage. But opponents of the mine say no sulfide mine has ever operated without leakage, and they also fear cyanide, which is normally used in the refining of gold ...
... Alaska native communities around Prince William Sound are still feeling the devastating effects of the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989 and are disgusted with the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision holding the company's punitive damages at $507 million. Residents of small towns like Tatitlek on the sound say they are still unable to eat local shellfish and seabirds, since thousands of gallons of oil still contaminate the beach ...
http://www.alternet.org/water/96843/alaska_chooses_largest_gold_mine_over_clean_water/