14 Square Mile Mine Proposed In Heart Of Key Alaska Salmon Habitat - NYT

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"The scale of the proposed mining is vast. The Pebble mine alone would cost $1.5 billion, the company estimates, and would tap the largest gold deposit and the second largest copper deposit in North America. The mine also contains molybdenum, often used to strengthen and harden steel. The open pit would cover 2 square miles, and the whole complex, including a tailings pond that may hold billions of tons, would cover 14 square miles, more than 10 times as large as Central Park.

But many environmentalists and local residents worry that the mining would be a disaster for the salmon fishery, on which much of the economy and ecosystem depend. While commercial salmon fishing has hit hard times, partly because a rise in fish farms has led to a glut on the market, the region's salmon runs still are spectacular. Fish here are measured in the millions. In 2004, more than 27 million salmon were commercially harvested in Bristol Bay. Most were sockeyes, the most valuable of the five species of salmon.

"This is one of the most special places for salmon anywhere," said Dr. Quinn, who noted that the region had no farmed fish or hatchery fish. "It's the center of sockeye diversity," he added. "This is all salmon produced by and evolved under natural processes, and in that sense, for the gene bank of the species, it is really quite remarkable." Other fish include rainbow trout, round whitefish, humpback whitefish, burbot, Dolly Varden and Arctic char. Mammals include brown bears, wolves, moose, one of the state's largest herds of caribou and a rare population of freshwater seals in Lake Iliamna.

The Native Alaskan people here - Yupik Eskimos, Aleuts and Athabascan Indians - have long lived off this bounty. "I am not a scientist," said Raymond Wassillie, chief of the village of Newhalen. "All I know is I live here. I breathe the air, I fish the waters, I hunt the lands. That's the way the traditional life of my culture has been, and I like it. And if it goes away, I won't have nothing." Still, he says, he is willing to consider a mine that will bring jobs. "Make sure you keep open minds," he told the crowd at a meeting on April 7 in the small teen center of this village on the shores of Lake Iliamna. As was evident there, others are more skeptical. Lydia Olympic, the village council president of Iguigig, also on Lake Iliamna, replied: "Is it so wrong for a Native who lives here and off the land to be fearful? We have the right to be fearful." Others echoed the sentiment. "They're giving us the same promises other mines have promised to other people," said Tatiana Askoak of Newhalen. "We don't have any guarantees."

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http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/26/science/earth/26mine.html?