Bristol Bay News - June 20, 2011

News from  Bristol Bay - here is some relevant news from the SAVE BRISTOL BAY website.

In The Hill’s Congress Blog, former Alaska State Senate president Rick Halford lays out exactly what we lose if Pebble mine goes through – thousands of jobs and a whole economy:
“The millions of salmon that will swim into our bays and rivers in the coming weeks are the real gold of Bristol Bay. They have sustained the Alaska Native people, body and soul, for millennia; they create jobs and money for fisherman; they provide thrills of a lifetime for anglers. They cannot be lost to the nation.”

Alaskans weigh in on the recent visit by Sir Nigel Sheinwald, British Ambassador to the United States. Sheinwald visited the Pebble site and met with business groups, local communities and state leaders to discuss England’s interest in resource extraction in Alaska. The Anchorage Press included this Pebble tidbit: “He then suggested, ever so politely, that critics of the mine should just wait until the regulatory process was done before weighing in on the pros and cons. In other words, sit down and shut up until we're done getting this ready. Nigel, mate, I know you've only been in Alaska a week, but I'm telling you, that's not going to fly up here.”

And following that news, Business Wire reports resource-based firms’ stocks are dropping, dragging overall economic performance down in London. That includes both Anglo American and its junior partner Northern Dynasty, whose stock is down 60 percent from its high in February.

In the meantime, the EPA’s Region 10 office announced a settlement for Hecla Mining Co.  to pay $263 million to help clean up damage to water and wildlife from millions of tons of silver mining waste in Idaho.

Here’s a weekly roundup of media.
                                                                                                                                            
Alaska mine would threaten more jobs than it creates
Rick Halford
The Hill, Congress Blog
Recently, Rick Manning of Americans for Limited Government used this space to reference the proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska as an example of job-killing government regulation run amok. His analysis shows that he has been badly misled about this prospect and the tension that it puts on all reasonable mining in Alaska…Click here to read more  

The Moore Report: Making Plans for Nigel
Ivan Moore
Anchorage Press 
I went to a World Affairs Council meeting the other day. Despite my international background, I just don't think I'm a World Affairs Council kind of guy, for much the same reason I steadfastly refuse to listen to public radio. They're both irredeemably stuffy and somniferous…Click here to read more

Ambassador missed irony
Andy Josephson, Anchorage
Anchorage Daily News 
The World Affairs Council recently hosted a luncheon in honor of the British ambassador to the United States, Sir Nigel Sheinwald's, visit to Alaska. I am an Anglophile, so I start out favorably predisposed to all things British. But my ears burned when he addressed Anglo-American and the proposed Pebble mine…Click here to read more

Research and Markets: United States Mining Report 2011
Business Wire
DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "United States Mining Report 2011" report to their offering.  Unlike many developed world countries, the US still maintains a sizeable mining sector…Click here to read more 

Pop-and-drop stock Northern Dynasty provides lesson 
Lou Schiza’s Mail Bag
The Globe and Mail (Canada)
Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. (NDM-T8.980.516.02%) is sitting on a significant copper, gold, molybdenum deposit in southwest Alaska called the Pebble Project. They have two mining giants involved in their efforts: Rio Tinto and Anglo American…Click here to read more

Hecla to pay $263M to settle Superfund suit 
Nicholas K. Geranios, AP
Seattle Times
SPOKANE, Wash. — The largest mining company in Idaho's Silver Valley will pay $263.4 million plus interest to settle one of the nation's largest Superfund lawsuits - one of the top 10 such settlements in history, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Monday…Click here to read more

Fly Fishing Academy hooks Bristol Bay Youth
Daysha Eaton
KDLG
The Bristol Bay Fly fishing and Guide Academy trains young people 15 to 24 to work as fly fishing guides. They learn about traditional knowledge of ecology and culture, and more than half are Alaska Natives…Click here to listen

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