Why is the Pebble Mine Project in Southwest Alaska controversial?

Answer 1

I don't think the hunters are particularly concerned about the proposed Pebble Mine project.

But the commercial fishermen and environmentalists are alarmed for similar reasons.

The mine would be in the drainage of significant salmon migration/spawning grounds and (modern, low-assay value) gold mines use cyanide to leach out the gold from huge piles of ore. Also, those rocks contain other heavy metals (lead, zinc, arsenic, cadium, etc) and acidic sulfur so if any of the leachate (intentional or natural) gets away, those metals will be in the river systems.

Part of the concern is the potential actual effects. Would there be huge egg or fry mortality if there was a release of contaminated water? Mine tailings piles are notorious for being sources of pollutants for decades (centuries it will be) afterwards. Look at Montana and Idaho! And mining companies are not held to very high standards for liability insurance, so they can belly up if there is a mishap. They say they'll engineer it well, but we have extreme winters and 9.2 earthquakes up here so it isn't hard to imagine problems developing during the enternity that the tailings would sit around afterwards.

There is a perception/marketing concern. Alaskan salmon fisheries get hammered by farm-raised Atlantic salmon that are cheaper to produce and available very predictably year-round. But Alaska wild fish are from a mostly pristine environment whereas those farm fish are fed nasty stuff, dyed for flesh color (otherwise they're grey-fleshed) and have a lot of parasites. Alaska loses part of it's legitimate image of being a clean place to catch fish the more we dump pollutants in the rivers.

Answer 2

The project is considered by many to be a threat to hunting and fishing in Alaska.