Opinions

An Alaskan Apology: Un-damning my dam opinion

Editor's note: The following opinion, as well as the one it aims to correct, originally and mistakenly directed their ire toward House Bill 32, which is incorrect. The bill in question is Senate Bill 32. The text below and the original have been corrected.

I rarely make mistakes, but when I do I am not afraid to correct them, and unfortunately a recent piece I wrote about SB32 and the proposed dam in one of Alaska's most pristine parks was riddled with horrible, amateurish mistakes. Mistakes that herein I aim to correct and sincerely apologize for.

The first and most drastic of mistakes occurred while soliciting photos to accompany this controversial, and widely spread, opinion piece I wrote. John McDonald answered my call, and shared with me his stunning and award-winning photo. In my excitement to share such a gorgeous image, I neglected to realize the person in the photo was a Bethel high school basketball star, a Hoffman naturally, paddling a kayak into the distance, on a body of water that was in fact the Wood-Tikchik lake of Chauekuktuli, and not Chikuminuk.

I made two embarrassing and regretful mistakes here. In the caption for the photo, I failed to inform the fine editors at Alaska Dispatch the correct lake or the name of the young man in the boat. As someone hoping to stop such a pristine area from being desecrated by huge power lines and a dam, I should never have made the mistake of insinuating Chikuminuk was Chauekuktuli, even though they are a part of the same lake system. This is clearly misleading to readers and that might lead them to think a dam is being built on this stunningly beautiful lake and not the other completely breathtaking one.

I detest such practices in the media, and regretfully didn't mean to dupe anyone. Neglecting to identify a Hoffman in a photo is perhaps worse than the lake mis-labeling. I know the area and the land, and I know the Hoffmans. I can only hope they will accept my apology. I should have suspected the striking figure was a Hoffman, and I can only imagine the backlash when I next visit Bethel, if the Hoffmans will even allow me to ever return.

I also want to apologize to the photographer John McDonald as well. He is a co-owner of Kuskokwim Wilderness Adventures , and I cannot begin to express my apologies with linking his beautiful photo, his name, or his amazing outdoor wilderness adventure company with such blatantly sloppy opinion piece writing.

I also owe a huge apology to Donlin Gold Limited Liability Company , the multi-national company NovaGold Resources Incorporated, and the world's largest gold company, Barrick Gold Corporation.

ADVERTISEMENT

In my research the past few years for the reasoning behind such a boondoggle hydroelectric project, I naively thought that the old PowerPoint posted on the Nuvista website that either mentioned the exorbitant energy requirements needed by Donlin Mine or the maps with future powerlines running from a proposed dam to Bethel and on to Donlin Mine were really a proposal linking the Chikuminuk dam to the mine. That was purely conjecture on my part as it turns out. That map was first created in 1982, with the transmission lines drawn over the map in 2008. Those lines run from a proposed dam on Golden Gate Falls on the Kiseralik River to both Donlin and Pebble Mines, so I probably also owe an apology of sorts to Pebble Partnership and Northern Dynasty for not including them in what is obviously turning out to be an opinion piece riddled with misinformation.

As it turns out, Donlin Gold LLC, according to its own website, has ruled out hydroelectric power as a source of energy for this million-ounce-a-year mine and the "world's largest and richest known undeveloped gold deposits" because it "did not meet the current needs of the project." The 157 megawatts of power needed to run the mine will instead come from a proposed 14-inch diameter natural gas line that will run through 312 miles of pristine and roadless wilderness, extending from Cook Inlet to the Donlin mine site.

Surely any mentions of the mine specifically by name in the planning documents located on theNuvista website must be outdated and don't reflect any interest from Donlin in such a small hydroelectric dam that will produce a measly 13.4 megawatts, just a fraction of the power needed to dig up and process all that gold with cyanide solution in giant tanks upstream from the salmon-bearing Kuskokwim River.

I hope Donlin Gold will accept my apology for the misunderstanding. I am grateful for it pointing out my mistake and clarifying its lack of interest in being connected in any way with the little Chikuminuk hydroelectric project. Hopefully this means the company is also not in favor of SB 32 and the $10 million study to build a $500 million dam in one of Alaska's finest and most pristine parks.

But I would be speculating in saying so, as Donlin Gold has done its own studies, and even a relatively large wind energy project like the one on Anchorage's Fire Island, which cost $65 million and produces 17.6 megawatts, wouldn't be enough to supply the power demands of such an enormous open pit mining operation.

My apologies to one and all for any heartache I might have caused with my opinion piece last weekend in Alaska Dispatch. My intentions were not to slight anyone. Nor did I intend to disparage or misrepresent the world's largest gold mining company as it forges ahead building one of the largest gold mines on the planet, not far from the mighty Kuskokwim River, the very water that provided the delicious salmon I grew up eating and that has sustained a culture for thousands of years.

Don Rearden, author of the novel The Raven's Gift, grew up in Southwest Alaska and now lives and writes in Anchorage.

The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, e-mail commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com.

Don Rearden

Don Rearden, author of the novel "The Raven's Gift," lives and writes in Anchorage, but often pretends he's still back somewhere on the tundra outside of Bethel.

ADVERTISEMENT