Sarah Palin and the Pebble Mine Sticker Controversy - Alaska Restaurant Owner Jon Corbett refuses to bow to the Queen - UPDATE!

Wild Salmon at Bristol Bay, Alaska

By Kathleen

Sarah Palin and the London born producer Mark Burnett, former Section Commander of the notorious UK Parachute Regiment have been busy filming and interviewing residents during the previous days in the Bristol Bay area for a controversial new TV docudrama series about the Last Frontier State. The documentary will feature Sarah Palin, her family, views of the tundra caribou, moose and wolves and seas tumultuous with salmon, whales and belugas whilst sorry walrus bask on shores. It is supposed to be broadcast on TLC/Discovery.

Bristol Bay is home to one of the last surviving fishing grounds of wild sockeye salmon in the Northern hemisphere. As such it is an immense and valuable renewable resource which presently supports the livelihoods of approximately 6000 independent fishermen and the main industries of commercial fishing companies and canneries which exist there.

According to many people living nearby, Bristol Bay and its ancient heritage of fishing face a threat from a proposal by mining companies Anglo American and Northern Dynasty who want to set up the largest open pit copper and gold mine in North America on the shores of Bristol Bay. Many local protestors against the mine claim that pollution from contaminated mine waste could have a huge effect on the salmon population and industry. Local protestors are also concerned that further proposals to build huge dams to contain the waste are also insufficient because the area is in an active seismic zone through which the Lake Clark fault line runs less than twenty miles from the proposed Pebble Mine site. As salmon fishing has played a huge role in native culture for the many people living in small communities, all of which connect to each other, it is also thought that thousands of years of culture and tradition will be lost if the mining companies proposal succeeds and traditional ways of life are displaced.

For more details please watch this trailer for the documentary "Red Gold":

Red Gold | trailer from felt soul media on Vimeo.

However it’s not all moist wetlands, osprey, brown bear and weathered rocks on the tundra. Sarah and Mark’s tour of the Bristol Bay Lowlands brought them face to face with the owner chef of The Windmill Grille in Dillingham, Jon Corbett, a keen environmentalist who took advantage of their visit to show his support for the "Save Bristol Bay" movement and his anti mine sentiments.

Sarah Palin with Jon Corbett a few days ago

Now I know for a fact that Palingates readers are sophisticated, alert and well read and that the majority of you will have noticed the very large anti Pebble Mine sticker conveniently stuck to the smoked salmon that Jon displays.

It seems that Sarah Palin, despite the fact that she has clearly favoured the mining proposal in the past, had no hesitation in posing next to an anti Pebble Mine sticker proudly advertised on the packaging of the rather delicious looking salmon. Should we be surprised by this?

Has Sarah been persuaded that such a large mining operation and the environmental consequences associated with it could be disastrous for the local communities which have existed there for thousands of years?

Predictably, the answer is a resounding no. Sarah Palin yet again created a situation that required a clean up operation by a “Palin family member”. Jon Corbett was put on notice by said “member of Todd Palin’s family” and a “family friend” that he should remove from his facebook a picture of Sarah Palin posing next to the suddenly noxious sticker.

It's telling, isn't it? Sarah Palin's position was compromised by her own stupidity and someone from Todd's family seeks to cover her ineptitude by insisting that a photo is removed so a record of her stupidity does not exist. It’s the number one Palin rule, never admit your mistake, just erase it from the record and it no longer exists. Simple, isn’t it? However, Jon is sticking to his guns and refuses to compromise and it seems as if Sarah Palin will be forced to make a statement regarding Bristol Bay Mining and the fact that she did not notice the sticker with its offending logo.

Jon Corbett writes on his blog "Green Alaska":

"So, what to do? ? ? I was just asked by a member of Todd Palin’s family and a family friend to remove my posted facebook profile picture, because of the No Pebble Mine picture. They said that Sarah would have to soon make a statement along the lines of “That is not her position and that she was not aware of the No Pebble Mine logo being present.” . . .

This is my take on this. She willingly came into my place of business and discussed the business of Fish with me and the producer, Mark Burnett. We kept the conversation on fish and the business of fish. The dangers and threats to Bristol Bay were briefly mentioned, but not expounded upon. I will say this about the picture, this is most definitely not Sarah Palin’s position… as the “family friend” put it, “I don’t think anyone knows Sarah’s position.” I wanted to scream, but held my composure and acknowledged that he was correct. Anyone remember Proposition 4?

“Days before voters went to the polls, Governor Sarah Palin publicly stated her opposition to Proposition 4.

(Palin said:) “Let me take my governor’s hat off just for a minute here and tell you, personally, Prop. 4, I vote no on that.”

While polls before her statement showed Proposition 4 ahead by a small percentage, in the end almost 60% of voters went against it. Not only did critics call Gov. Palin’s statements highly unethical, but a legal complaint was filed against the state for improperly taking sides on the measure, which is illegal. The Alaska Public Offices Commission ordered the content to be taken off the state website, but cleared Palin, saying she made it clear it was a personal opinion."

He then gives a few links for reference:

New York Times, October 21, 2008: "Palin's Hand Seen in Battle Over Mine in Alaska"

Grist.org, August 21, 2008: "Alaskan greens say McCain’s VP pick has anti-environmental record"

Here is another one:

Treehugger.com, August 8, 2008: "Palin (Illegally?) Endorses Short-Term Mining Gain Over Long-Term Food Supply"

Jon concludes:

"I will not remove the picture. This picture was taken as it is shown…I was being opportunistic in getting my political belief out to the world. I enjoyed sitting down with Mrs. Palin and talking about Fish and Alaska. I hope the best for her and her Family as they travel around Alaska filming a portrait of our great state to share with the rest of the World through TLC/Discovery Channel. I think I can speak for a lot of people around Bristol Bay in saying that we hope the episode on Salmon and the fishing business is positive and will do something to promote the image and protection of this great sustainable resource."

To my mind John Corbett shows real American spirit. He understands that some issues are worth taking a stand on no matter who it is that tries to stand in your way. The issue regarding Pebble Mine is about renewable resources versus non-renewable resources and it is about the long term sustainable future of communities pitched against the short term gain of large corporations. Jon Corbett gets it. Sarah Palin and the corporations who want to exploit the area do not.

(h/t to EyeOnYou for pointing us to Jon's blog!)

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UPDATE:

Jon Corbett just left an incredibly interesting comment on his blog:

"Pondering political peacemaking in hopes of getting the Green movement and Progressive line of thought some legitimacy and traction here in ALASKA… For the FISH.

But, I wrote the above on July 2d, the afternoon following my conversation with Sarah Palin about FISH. Afterwards I posted a picture on my Facebook profile. In the picture, I am holding a fresh frozen Wild caught Bristol Bay Sockeye Salmon with a No Pebble Mine Sticker while standing next to Sarah Palin. The picture was taken in my restaurant, The Windmill Grille in Dillingham, Alaska. I will admit that this picture was taken solely in the spirit of opportunism and I feel that I can safely say that the. General Anti Pebble Mine is NOT shared with Sarah Palin…

And with what I heard about the Discovery/TLC crew being run by Mark Burnett Productions (Survivor-CBS) going around having people cover signs and logos that are really a part of the FISHING culture here in Bristol Bay, I wonder about the opinions of Discovery Communications as well. I bet we don’t get an answer.

So, opportunity came along, and you are damned right in assuming that I will take full advantage of it, for the FISH."

So that is what's happening. Sarah Palin wants to present her own, clean, censored version of Alaska. No pesky fishermen and others who try to protect their culture and their subsistence. Shameful!

(h/t Vilca!)

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Bristol Bay leaders in London

A group of Alaska Native leaders from Bristol Bay went to London for the Anglo American AGM. Anglo are behind the Pebble Mine project and have an appaling track record regarding the environment and local populations in other countries.

Although the group were allowed to speak briefly at the meeting, the general impression they came away with is that Anglo are very patronizing and don't really listen...



Everett Thompson wrote an op-ed for TimesOnline.

Further information about Bristol Bay and Pebble mine.
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Sarah Palin, a crime against nature

The Alaska Community Foundation announced its first round of grants from the Pebble Partnership-endowed Pebble Fund. The endowment is expected to provide $5 million total in competitive grants over the next few years. The next round of awards is in the fall.

Pebble started dishing out money again. $5 million in "grants" is a drop in the ocean to them in another drive to buy the loyalty of the people in the villages.

Last year they spent $12 million to defeat Ballot Measure 4, related to the Clean Water Act, a measure intended to protect wild salmon fisheries in Bristol Bay. That was when Sarah Palin behaved in a very unethical way (surprise, surprise).

“Let me take my governor’s hat off for just a minute here and tell you, personally, Prop. 4 – I vote no on that. I have all the confidence in the world that we have great, very stringent regulations and policies already in place. We’re going to make sure that mines operate only safely, soundly.”

The Palin administration also declined to investigate ethics concerns raised by a Republican lawmaker who said mining officials had tried to buy the loyalty of native leaders, not least by paying $25,000 per month to house workers in the homes of influential locals. One of those houses is owned by Ethel and John Adcox, the parents of a close friend of Todd Palin, the governor’s husband.

Yesterday I wrote a very comprehensive post about mining in Alaska. The link "Pebble Mine" will show all the posts on the subject. They provide some background about Anglo's attitudes to the residents and the villages that stand in the way of their mining operations.

In 2002 they bulldozed a thriving community in Colombia in order to expand the Cerrejon mine, owned by Anglo American and two other multinationals, the largest open pit coal mine in the world. A video exists which shows a small girl with pigtails and pink overalls as she cries and pushes against the shields of Colombian riot police as bulldozers ram her family's home while other community members scream and wail.

Prior to its destruction, Tabaco boasted a school, health clinic, good farmland and a telephone exchange. Today, most former residents have joined three million internally displaced Colombians eking out a living however they can.

Cerrejon might invest on a major expansion, the company president has announced in 2008. As a result, villagers from four more settlements - Roche, Pantilla, Chancleta and Tamaquito - are threatened with displacement.



Coal from Colombia has been dubbed "Colombian blood coal" because of violent displacement of communities and assassinations of union leaders at the country's coal mines.

If developed, the Pebble mine will be the largest mine in North America, with an approximate footprint of at least 28 square miles. Mining gold and copper, unlike coal, leaves behind a staggering amount of toxic waste, which Pebble proposes to store behind two dams — the largest in the world — in a seismically active area.



Pebble is buttering up the villagers with "grants" before they eventually destroy their homes.

This development should please Sarah Palin. In her ideal Alaska, the villages would cease to exist, the communities would be dispersed and her "native problem" would be solved.

Pebble is a recipe for an environmental disaster comparable to the Exxon Valdez spill. The only difference is that it would happen at a slower pace. The results would be the same, if not worse: loss of commercial and subsistence fishing and a massive area with its cultural wealth and all eco-systems destroyed forever.

Pebble would expand and swallow up further villages, defacing increasingly larger areas in a relentless hunger for more gold, more copper, more profits.

Sarah Palin's position in any controversial issue is all too predictable, be it drilling in ANWR, dumping toxic waste in Cook Inlet, allowing crude oil to be stored near an active volcano, fighting the classification of endangered species, killing wolves and bears, rejecting money for social and education projects or cultural genocide.

Sarah Palin can't see the big picture, beyond the very immediate present. The lure of the big dollars is too irresistible and she can't see past a pile of money.

Alaska is a very large, very beautiful and rich state. But there is a limit to what it can safely offer.

History will remember Sarah Palin as a governor who sold Alaska to the big corporations and contributed to the transformation of this wonderful state into an irreversably toxic land, unable to support life...

Links
Article on ADN
Pebble Mine
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Sarah Palin and the mining industry in Alaska

After extensive research, I would like to share my findings about the impact of mining on the communities, environment and wildlife of Alaska.

Bear in mind Sarah Palin's famous mantra: "We can safely and responsibly develop Alaska's resources."

Red Dog Mine

Red Dog, a subsidiary of Pebble, was an environmental battleground even before it opened in 1989.

From 2000 through 2006, the mine produced an estimated $6 billion worth of zinc, lead and silver -- about 80 percent of the value of all mine output in Alaska.

The mine has faced permitting troubles related to its land, air and water discharges, and it is being sued by some Kivalina residents over repeated violations of its federal water-discharge permit.

The mine's dust emerged as a serious problem in 2001, when the National Park Service released its study showing high levels of lead, zinc and cadmium in moss and soil along the 24-mile stretch of road that bisects the Cape Krusenstern National Monument.



Further testing showed large amounts of heavy metals had settled on vegetation near the mine and at the state-owned port, according to the mine's study. In some spots, damage to the tundra near Red Dog is visible to the naked eye.

In November 2008, scientists hired by the mine said the dust has hurt mosses and lichens, and perhaps ptarmigan. But, they said, the concentrations of toxic metals in the air, land and water are too low to pose health risks to people who consume wild foods in the region.

State officials approved the mine's 2008 report, but for various reasons -- ranging from technical complaints to allegations of bias -- some residents of nearby villages, environmental groups and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are questioning its human health finding.

A resident says: "I don't want that dust in my body, we don't pick berries around there. I don't hunt caribou there."

Conclusions about Red Dog's effects on the environment are coming just as Alaskans are beginning to weigh the costs and benefits of developing other rich metallic deposits -- in particular, the massive Pebble copper and gold prospect and the Donlin gold prospect, both in remote stretches of Southwest Alaska.

Sarah Palin Palin praised the Red Dog zinc mine near Kotzebue for bringing jobs to rural Alaska.

Kensington Mine

In 1997 Coeur/Kensington got a permit to pile it up ("dry stack") and eventually cover it over with vegetation (a solution embraced by environmentalists). But in 2004, it proposed a cheaper method of dumping it into Lower Slate Lake. The regulators (Army Corps of Engineers) said OK. Trouble is, the law says you can't do that- or maybe it does. It depends on whether you call mine waste "fill" or "effluents."

Under the Clean Water Act, "effluents" (or pollutants) are regulated more strictly than "fill." In 2002, the Corps of Engineers decided to change the definition of mine waste rock from the strictly regulated "effluent" to the less regulated "fill." Then it gave Kensington a permit to dump its waste rock (now defined as "fill"), into Lower Slate Lake. SEACC (Southeast Alaska Conservation Council) asked the courts to rule on whether that re-interpretation was consistent with the Clean Water Act. The Ninth Circuit Court said it wasn't. The judges ruled that, "The Corps violated the Clean Water Act by issuing a permit to Coeur Alaska for discharges of slurry from the froth-flotation mill at the Kensington Gold Mine." So the permit was revoked. (From article by Jonathan Anderson, Juneau Empire)





June 27, 2008, Anchorage, Alaska – Governor Sarah Palin today commended the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to review a Ninth Circuit Court ruling that had invalidated a federal permit for tailings disposal at the Kensington Mine near Juneau. The state of Alaska and Coeur Alaska had both filed petitions asking the Supreme Court to review the Ninth Circuit Court’s decision, which had essentially forced the company to relocate and redesign the mine’s tailings disposal facility. (Governor's press release)

The Ninth Circuit decision overturned a lower court decision and invalidated the Kensington tailings permit.

On January 12, 2009, Earthjustice attorney Tom Waldo was at the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing against an attempt by the mining industry -- supported by President George Bush and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin -- to turn our nation's waterways into industrial waste dumps.

The fate of America's waterways is now in the hands of U.S. Supreme Court justices after arguments were presented in the case of a small Alaskan lake that operators of the Kensington gold mine want to fill -- and kill -- with mine tailings.

"The whole reason Congress passed the Clean Water Act was to stop turning our lakes and rivers into industrial waste dumps," Waldo said. "The Bush administration selected the Kensington Mine to test the limits of the Clean Water Act. The Army Corps had never issued a permit like this before."

Comments by some of the Supreme Court justices:

"Isn't it arguable that the best place for really toxic stuff is at the bottom of a lake so long as it stays there?" asked Justice Antonin Scalia.

Chief Justice John Roberts noted that the fish in question were not an endangered species, adding: "There are millions of them somewhere else, right?"

These are the same justices who overturned the Exxon Valdez initial compensation award, reducing it to just over $500 million.

It's not looking good. The Ninth Circuit decision to revoke Kensington's permit is likely to be overturned by the Supreme Court, setting a dangerous precedent regarding the Clean Water Act, with serious implications regarding future incursions into the environment by Pebble Mine.

Pebble Mine

Pebble Mine is a massive copper/gold mine proposed in southwest Alaska’s Bristol Bay - at the headwaters of the world’s largest remaining wild sockeye salmon fishery. Pebble Mine is backed by mining giant Anglo American and The Northern Dynasty Partnership, which is a wholly-owned Canadian-based subsidiary of Northern Dynasty Minerals Limited.

If developed, the Pebble mine will be the largest mine in North America; with an approximate footprint of 28 square miles, and possibly much more.

Of the predicted 7.5 billion tons of ore, over 99% will become mine waste, which will remain on site forever. The company has proposed to impound the waste behind two dams — the largest in the world — in a seismically active area.

Applications filed by Northern Dinasty Minerals in 2006 indicate that the proposed project will leave permanent landscape features affecting some thirty square miles, including two tailings ponds that will house billions of tons of mine tailings which will include toxic materials.

Direct impacts will result from the approximately 30 square mile footprint of the mine, processing plant, and tailings ponds; more than 60 lineal miles of mainstem streams – plus the adjacent tributaries and wetlands – that will be totally or partially dewatered; the 12.5 square miles or 8,000 acres of disturbance from the access road; port facilities; and, power production and power supply lines. Siltation caused by road-building activities will smother fish food organisms and incubating eggs and alevins. Direct effects associated with the road also include fragmentation of aquatic, riparian, and terrestrial habitats. The company has applied to use 70 million gallons of water per day, nearly three times the amount of water used in the city of Anchorage, from key salmon spawning streams.

Cumulative impacts will include long-term, multi-year losses of fish production and stream productivity. Over time, bridges and culverts in the access road can deteriorate and interfere with juvenile or adult fish migration between important habitats. Dust and silt from the road during the life of the project or leakage from the slurry line may smother fish food organisms and incubating fish eggs and could wash downstream to affect spawning and rearing habitat in Iliamna Lake. In addition, the weight of the roadbed and traffic can be expected to compact the soil and alter the movement of groundwater which could disrupt beach spawning by sockeye salmon in Iliamna Lake.

Any real or perceived impact from the proposed Pebble Mine on Bristol Bay salmon populations will have the probability of destroying the high-value commercial and subsistence fisheries. In addition, it is reasonable to assume that if the proposed Pebble Mine project becomes operational, more mines will be developed and more fish populations and aquatic habitats throughout Bristol Bay may be lost. Forever.



During a news conference in August 2008, Gov. Palin took a public stance regarding the Clean Water Initiative (Proposition 4), a measure intended to protect wild salmon fisheries in the Bristol Bay region of Alaska. Six days before the statewide primary elections, she said, “Let me take my governor’s hat off for just a minute here and tell you, personally, Prop. 4 – I vote no on that. I have all the confidence in the world that we have great, very stringent regulations and policies already in place. We’re going to make sure that mines operate only safely, soundly.”



Please look into Anglo's track record, the predicted environmental impact of this gigantic mine on the area, plus the problems caused by the other two mining projects, Clean Water Act implications, Sarah Palin's attitudes and ask yourself if it's possible to believe the Governor's mantra:

"We can safely and responsibly develop Alaska's resources."

Links
Red Dog: ADN article, Contamination, Red Dog on wiki
Kensington: Juneau Empire article, ADN article, more photos, Supreme Court, Sarah Palin press release
Pebble: Anglo's track record, habitat report, ADN article, Washington Post article, minewatch, Photos, Take action, further background, a personal view
Previous posts about Pebble Mine
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Pebble Mine, a risk to the villages? (updated)

Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, chairman of Anglo American, the mining giant providing most of the financial backing for the Pebble copper and gold prospect, is visiting Alaska this weekend.

Moody-Stuart will visit Iliamna, Newhalen, Dillingham, Naknek and Anchorage to meet with Bristol Bay stakeholders and community leaders.

His track record is not all that wonderful. Subsidiaries of Anglo American and Shell, of which he was a director, are responsible for human rights violations.

IPS News, February 2008:

It's an interesting sign of the times when the chairman of a mining company notorious for illegally evicting subsistence farmers to increase international coal exports is invited to lecture on "sustainability".

He says he doesn't believe profit should be the driving force for corporations. "The ultimate goal of a company is to produce quality goods and services," he told the audience. "There is not much trust in big business these days."

Activists, however, weren't buying what Sir Moody was selling. One audience member, a master's student at Saint Mary's University, accused him of "corporate green washing" while others held colour photos of Colombian families displaced by Anglo American's operations.

The Cerrejon mine, owned by Anglo American and two other multinationals, is the largest open pit coal mine in the world.

Bronwen White and other students showed video footage of Tabaco's destruction prior to Sir Moody's presentation. In it, a small girl with pigtails and pink overalls cries and pushes against the shields of Colombian riot police as bulldozers ram her family's home while other community members scream and wail.

Prior to its destruction, Tabaco boasted a school, health clinic, good farmland and a telephone exchange. Today, most former residents have joined three million internally displaced Colombians eking out a living however they can.

Mines and Communities, February 2008:

This is a farming community populated primarily by Afro-Colombians, destroyed by Cerrejon's coal mine bulldozers in 2001-2002 to expand coal exports.

Now Cerrejon might invest on a major expansion, the company president has announced. As a result, villagers from four more settlements - Roche, Pantilla, Chancleta and Tamaquito - are threatened with displacement.

The Independent, UK:

On Anglo Gold, June 2007

Back in 2005, a Human Rights Watch report highlighted the alleged involvement of AngloGold Ashanti, a subsidiary of Anglo American, in developing links with the Nationalist and Integrationist Front in Congo. The report claimed that the FNI, blamed for a number of atrocities, gained help from AngloGold Ashanti in accessing a gold- mining site near the town of Mongbwalu. Human Rights Watch also said local warlords and international companies "are among those benefiting from access to gold-rich areas while local people suffer from ethnic slaughter, torture and rape."

On Shell, May 2001

Shell has refused to publish the independent report it commissioned on its multimillion-pound community development programme in Nigeria, despite denying that the document is secret.

Pressure on the oil giant was increased yesterday when Glenys Kinnock, the MEP and patron of the Ogoni Foundation, a human rights group, wrote to Shell demanding that it publish the independent report.

Shell was driven from oil-rich Ogoniland in 1993 by local people led by the human rights activist Ken Saro-Wiva. He accused the company of destroying the environment. He was executed by Nigeria's government two years later.


In view of these reports, it seems appropriate to ask what will happen to the Alaskan villages near Pebble Mine.

UPDATE: I have just read an article about Kensington Mine near Juneau and the implications of a Supreme Court ruling on other mining projects, including Pebble Mine. It's frightening. Link to previous post about Kensington Mine: Dirty gold but no Sarah Palin... yet

Links
Report about Sir Mark's visit: ADN
Colombian coal mine: IPS News, Mines and Communities
Anglo Gold, 2007: Independent UK
Shell, 2001: Independent UK
Previous post about Pebble Mine
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Sarah Palin and Pebble Mine

Sarah Palin talks about Pebble Mine during her campaign for governor:

“I am a commercial fisherman; my daughter’s name is Bristol,” said Ms. Palin, then a candidate for governor. “I could not support a project that risks one resource that we know is a given, and that is the world’s richest spawning grounds, over another resource.”

A series of events since Sarah Palin's election:

The governor appointed mining industry officials to lead her Department of Natural Resources, which regulates mines. And her environmental commissioner is a former lawyer for Red Dog, which is Alaska’s largest mine and has a history of violations of the Clean Water Act.

Ken Taylor, a former fish and game official who was Ms. Palin’s point man in her argument that global warming did not threaten polar bears, became environmental vice president for the Pebble Partnership in July.

Other moves by the Palin administration could also help Pebble. It plans to use a $7 million federal earmark — a practice she criticized on the vice presidential campaign trail — for a major upgrade of a road through the snow-capped Chigmit range, records show. There are no villages along this route, but it would form the first leg of a proposed 200-mile thoroughfare between Pebble Mine and the Pacific Ocean.

The Palin administration declined to investigate ethics concerns raised by a Republican lawmaker who says mining officials have tried to buy the loyalty of native leaders, not least by paying $25,000 per month to house workers in the homes of influential locals. One of those houses is owned by Ethel and John Adcox, the parents of a close friend of Todd Palin, the governor’s husband.

Mining companies paid to fly Mr. Palin, who grew up near there and is an unofficial adviser to his wife, on a fact-finding tour of Alaska mines.

The industry spent $12 million fighting the referendum.

The Clean Water Act, also known as Ballot Measure 4 is an initiated state statute that was aimed at stemming the discharge of toxic materials from large metallic mineral mines in Alaska. It appeared on the statewide August 26 ballot.

Sarah Palin spoke out against the measure. Her words immediately appeared in television commercials paid for by the mines, and the referendum failed.

Issues still being reviewed:

Pollution Zone - Environment - Prohibiting pollution mixing zones in salmon and other fisheries - Under review by the Lt. Governor

Protect Alaska's Clean Water Act v.3 (2008) - Environment - Restrict release of pollutants from mining - In litigation

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Sarah Palin changed her tune since her campaign to become governor of Alaska.

Either she didn't mean what she said then, her words just another series of soundbites for political purposes, or she changed her mind. If that is the case, what made her change her mind so drastically?

The industry spent $12 million fighting the referendum.

Excellent diary on Daily Kos.
New York Times article.
Issues and action: Audubon Alaska
Further resources.
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