This week I woke to yet another front-page story about a mining company destroying a salmon stream. This time it's the Australian mining company XS Platinum Inc. that got caught turning the Salmon River in Southwest Alaska into a river of mine waste.
With mining disasters more and more common in the pages of Alaskan newspapers, it's time to stop blindly trusting Outside mining companies with Alaska's wild salmon streams. When XS Platinum applied for its permit to mine near the Salmon River, it promised Alaskans a "zero discharge" mine. Instead, XS Platinum knowingly dumped enough pollution to turn the clear river into a filthy mess -- so muddy that fisheries biologists couldn't count the salmon from above.
But this mine isn't alone. Another mine -- heralded by the mining industry as an example of how mining and salmon can successfully co-exist -- failed late this summer, sending billions of gallons of toxic mine waste into one of North America's premier salmon streams. The Mount Polley mine along the Fraser River in British Columbia is just the latest example how "state of the art" mining technology cannot stop the harm caused by massive dredging operations in and around sensitive salmon habitat.
That's why I couldn't believe it earlier this month when Texas billionaire Herbert Hunt came to the Resource Development Council in Anchorage and reported that his company, PacRim Coal, planned to strip mine more than 25 miles of wild salmon habitat around the Chuitna River on the west side of Cook Inlet so he could send coal to China. Not to worry though, Mr. Hunt promised his coal strip mine would be "environmentally friendly."
How stupid does Mr. Hunt think we Alaskans are? How many times are we going to fall for the same false promises from Outside mining companies? Many people still remember when the Hunt Brothers tried to corner the world silver market in the 1970s. That greedy money-grab hurt a lot of good people. Now they're coming after our salmon streams.
Mr. Hunt made the time to travel and speak to the "good ole boys" at the Resource Development Council. But he didn't bother to meet with those of us in Beluga who will live with the impacts from his coal strip mine on our air, water, fish and entire way of life. We've asked to meet with Mr. Hunt numerous times but I guess his private jet can't find our runway in Beluga.
I don't trust putting the fate of the Chuitna River — the river where I taught my grandkids to fish — into the hands of a Texas billionaire who wants to strip mine through miles and miles of salmon stream. Never in the history of mankind has someone strip mined through a salmon stream and returned it to what it was before. Mr. Hunt says his strip mine will "help habitat for salmon," but that's baloney. Who does he think he is, God or Mother Nature? The scientists say no way.
Across Alaska, we have never allowed strip mining directly through a salmon stream. Now is not the time to start. History has proven that mining companies can't be trusted to mine near a salmon stream. Allowing PacRim Coal to mine directly through a salmon stream would set a terrible precedent that would destroy the Chuitna River and leave salmon streams across the state at risk.
It's time for Alaskans and our leaders to stop blindly trusting Outside mining companies, and to go back to the time where we actually had rigorous permitting and enforcement from our state agencies. Our way of life, and our children's future depend on the decisions we make today. The truth of the matter is that neither Mr. Hunt nor myself will be around to clean up the mess his coal mine would leave behind. But our children and grandchildren will be.
It's time to draw a line in the sand and answer the question: should we allow large-scale coal strip mining through wild Alaska salmon streams? As a longtime Alaskan, the answer to me is obvious.
Judy Heilman, aka Grammy Beluga, is founder and president of the Chuitna Citizens Coalition. She is a subsistence user and longtime Beluga resident.
The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, e-mail commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com