Halcro distorts opposition to Pebble mine

His diatribe against opponents of Pebble mine was based on a completely inaccurate statement. Either he did this knowingly, or he represents the worst of the blogosphere in not doing his own research.

Halcro claims that a TV ad opposing Pebble mine said that "they kept us from voting" and that the ad concludes by "claiming the election fraud proves the Pebble Partnership can't be trusted."

Mr. Halcro must have been smoking mine fumes because neither of those statements is in any ad. The headline on his Compass piece applies to his own words -- "blatantly not true." The ad he refers to starts with a respected leader of the Bristol Bay region, Ricky Delkittie, saying "the Pebble Partnership tried to stop us from voting." That is 180 degrees from "kept us from voting."

The Pebble Partnership sued to try and stop Lake and Peninsula voters from being able to vote on the Save Our Salmon initiative. It failed. That is a fact.

When Pebble's legal actions failed to stop the Save Our Salmon initiative from appearing on the ballot, the Pebble Partnership then tried to scare Lake and Peninsula Borough residents into voting against the initiative by telling each community within the borough that the initiative language actually meant that their local airport couldn't expand, or their water treatment plant couldn't be built. "Blatantly not true," Mr. Halcro. Although it almost worked.

The Save Our Salmon initiative simply states that no large-scale mineral extraction activities can destroy salmon streams. In its own ads, the Pebble Partnership agrees with this goal -- but it is apparently unwilling to see it in writing.

Of perhaps greater importance, Halcro fails to distinguish that the vote in the Lake and Peninsula Borough did not include Bristol Bay residents who would be most impacted by the largest gold mine and fifth-largest copper mine on the planet. The proposed Pebble mine sits within the Lake and Peninsula Borough, but the negative consequences would impact those directly downstream from the mine -- outside of the Lake and Peninsula Borough.

Mr. Halcro knows these facts, so one has to question his motivation in writing this column just as the Pebble Partnership is about to try to seal the deal with Alaska by getting the mining permits from which there will be no going back. No large mine in Alaska -- or North America -- has failed to get permitted once that process starts. The Bristol Bay Native Corporation, representing the people of the entire Bristol Bay region, has stated unequivocal opposition to Pebble mine as posing too great a risk to other resources in the region. This came after years of thoughtful analysis.

A just-released poll of BBNC shareholders by Dittman Research showed a whopping 81 percent opposition to the mine. Most of these people could not even vote in the election Halcro refers to. Yet he seems to indicate that opposition to the mine is somehow trumped up.

Try to sell that to the Bristol Bay Native Corporation, Mr. Halcro.

Halcro has covered the Pebble mine issue with no journalistic integrity, and his closing line has to make Alaskans shake their heads about his motivation; he closes his "editorial" with the advertising line currently used by the Pebble Partnership.

Art Hackney is a lifelong Alaskan who supports mining but opposes the Pebble mine. His company produces anti-Pebble ads.