Pebble Mine - A Mine of Pollution

This one is a good one, in that one company has already realised the wrongness of this proposal and has pulled out.

The proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska will destroy the largest sockeye salmon run in the world.  If it is built, the Pebble Mine would be the world’s largest open-pit copper and gold mine.  The proposed Pebble Mine threatens to pollute miles of pristine streams and wetlands in and around Bristol Bay, the home of 40 million sockeye salmon.

The Bay supplies nearly 50 percent of the world’s commercial sockeye, generates $480 million in annual revenue, and supports 14,000 jobs a year.  I don't know about you but living in a job strapped country that sounds like a hell of a lot of jobs to lose to me.  I suppose that the Pebble Mine proposers are saying 'well you can come and work in our mine' but, how's this for a news flash, some people don't want jobs that support the destruction of their environment.  For the people of Bristol Bay it is  vital that this mine is stop - for the sake of the wild salmon, and for Alaskans who depend on local salmon to survive.

Rio Tinto owns a huge share of Northern Dynasty Minerals, the company that will operate Pebble Mine if the US government approves it. But there’s some good news - one company has already dropped out, and Rio Tinto may be reconsidering its holdings in Northern Dynasty.

Another mining giant, Anglo American, dropped its stake in Pebble Mine last year after originally investing $541 million in the project. We think that Rio Tinto is seriously considering pulling its shares and support from Northern Dynasty and the Pebble Mine. If Rio Tinto drops its support, the project will likely die. These companies know that groups working on the ground will fight to the end to protect Bristol Bay.

In two weeks, Alaskan native leaders are attending Rio Tinto’s annual shareholder meeting in London, and we have asked them to bring the voices of hundreds of thousands of SumOfUs members with them.   Already, over 130,000 SumOfUs.org supporters have called on Northern Dynasty to drop the mine. It hasn’t acted, but if Rio Tinto dumps its shares in Northern Dynasty, word from the industry is that the Pebble Mine will be as good as dead.

If you'd like to add your name to the petition then you can use the link below.
Tell Rio Tinto to pull out of the mine that will destroy the largest wild sockeye salmon run in the world.

Some people might say 'why are you getting so opinionated' to which I have to reply that, in my opinion, 'we messed up the world so the onus is on us to put it right'.