The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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On May 18, 2012, the EPA released for public comment a draft scientific study of the Bristol Bay watershed and its natural resources. Under the Clean Water Act, EPA claims the authority to perform scientific studies that enhance the public's knowledge of water resources. Whether, as a matter of law, the agency has that authority, is disputed, but for the purpose of this conversation, it is irrelevant because the more pressing question is whether, assuming such authority, it is...
In the waning days of the Vietnam Mistake, the popular lyrics of the Animals' most famous hit were in the hearts and on the lips of every soldier. The nation was divided. It seemed like we couldn't go forward, we didn't want to go backward, and remaining in place was impossible. Indecision was endemic and leadership was lacking. A popular, charismatic and totally inexperienced president had allowed us to get sucked into foreign entanglements, and a sinister megalomaniac got...
For the past however many months we have been enduring the Republican presidential nominating process, which has winnowed the field from eight to four candidates. Of the four, former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts is generally deemed the closest thing to a moderate and Ron Paul wears the Libertarian brand. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and U.S. Rep. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., seem to be scrambling for the "conservative" middle, with Santorum displaying a slight edge. Accord...
Once upon a time, not so many years ago, mining was a laudable calling. As a child I tapped my foot as Tennessee Ernie Ford sang about mining "16 Tons" of coal a day, and Jimmy Dean serenaded us about the heroic act of "Big Bad John" in saving his fellow miners. Even before that, I sat around many a campfire and sang (off key) about "My Darling, Clementine." In the pre-World War II days when the A. J. Mine in Juneau was stamping away at the gold-laden quartz that was being...
It is axiomatic that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance, and we who stand watch over America's mining industry know all too well that there is little the Detractors would rather do than to shut down this and all other basic manufacturing sectors. Witness a recent op-ed in the New York Times wherein Alaska's very own Carol Ann Woody advocated doing away with the General Mining Law of 1872 because, among other reasons, the Kensington Mine was allowed to go forward. Now I have not personally made the acquaintance of Ms....
As probably everyone who follows this column realizes, I spend most of my life looking at the world through the wrong end of the telescope. On the other hand, with apologies to Dr. Seuss: "Oh, the things you will see." During the recent noise masquerading as the selection process for the presidential candidate of the Republican Party, I have listened carefully, in vain, for something that seems simple and self-evident to me. First, and as a premise, I assume that no "money"...
In an exhaustive 154-page decision disposing of all claims against the State of Alaska, Superior Court Judge Eric A. Aarseth found that, in conjunction with the Pebble Project in Southwest Alaska, the State of Alaska's Miscellaneous Land Use Permit (MLUP) system, as administered, and the state's Temporary Water Use Permit (TWUP) program, as administered, did not violate the provisions of Article VIII of the Constitution of the State of Alaska. In an earlier ruling Judge Aarset...
I know not what others may say, but as for me, the competition for the Republican nomination for president of the United States is a major giggle. One can only wonder how it is that we have gotten so deep into the soup. In the background, we have an incumbent who must be regarded, in the vernacular, as totally clueless. Arguably, there is nothing wrong with his safety nets and health care programs for the dependent underclass - the concept of noblesse oblige had been around...
It's hard to be associated with the mining industry in Alaska at this point in history and not be euphoric about the price of gold. At this writing, gold has broken through $1,900 per Troy ounce and is still headed north at a rapid clip. The diverse factors that reflect on this development are imponderable. Just a few would include the fact that Congress is on vacation; the President checked his leadership credentials at his campaign headquarters and headed for the beach; a Republican candidate for the nation's highest...
Although I am easily impressed, one of the most impressive things about living in Alaska to me has always been the opportunity to rub elbows with so many great men and women who not only witness our modern history, but also frame it. When I first came to Alaska, there were people still living who recalled the first gold rush miners rafting down the Yukon. The people who built the Alcan Highway were still moving dirt. Construction of the railroad, for some, was still a vital...
Once upon a time, I was actually awarded a degree in political science. Assuming that "science" describes reproducible results, it now appears that "political science" is the quintessential oxymoron. This explains why I know so many things that I just don't understand. For instance, the Alaska Miners Association has a bunch of committees to monitor developments in everything from getting along with other users of public lands to monitoring developments in industrial minerals....
Three score and a year or two ago, in the days when television was little more than a cathode ray tube with images in various shades of gray, one of my favorite and most memorable shows was called "The Big Brother Bob Emery Show." Big Brother Bob Emery was a non-menacing Mr. Rogers type whose influence on me has lasted to this day. Every afternoon at 12:15 p.m., he paused the program to lift a glass of milk in a toast to the President of the United States. I drank many gallons of milk to President Eisenhower, the first...
It is not extraordinary for film stars to use their recognized names and faces for purposes unrelated to their professions and to endorse something they arguably know nothing about. In America where we all treasure free speech, celebrities have as much right as anyone to attempt to influence public opinion. When it becomes noteworthy, however, is when someone publicly argues against the very position they purport to be advocating. This is the case with a proposed New York...
An ancient Chinese aphorism advises that if you give a man a fish he will eat for a day, and if you teach him how to fish, he will eat for a lifetime. I am going to go way out on a limb here and suggest that contrary to all known experience, government is not uneducable. Here's my simple point: The Council on Environmental Quality has spent the last 40 years screwing things up. They have interpreted their mandate myopically; they have wasted literally forests of paper on...
Anecdotal reports are flowing in to the effect that the 200 placer mining operations in Alaska may expect visits from Mine Safety and Health Administration agents this field season and that operators should "have their checkbooks handy." Rumor has it that the focus on placer mining was spurred, at least in part, by the Discovery Channel's "Gold Rush Alaska" depicting some of the trials and tribulations of a start-up operation on Porcupine Creek near Haines. MSHA is one of those government agencies out to save us from...
Since time immemorial, the bankruptcy of California and the other Ecotopian states of the left coast has been foretold. California is no more economically sustainable as a political entity than Megatropolis, the urban complex bounded by Boston on the north and Richmond, Va. on the south, primarily because their industrial and manufacturing support bases in each instance have been overwhelmed by non-productive drones, dependent upon others for sustenance. California has now...
During the winter months, many of us who follow the mining industry find ourselves involved in conventions and other meetings that, among other things, give us a chance to take the pulse of the industry. Of course, there are many indicia of our condition - US$1,400 gold and other attractive prices for commodities; the sure and certain knowledge that mining law "reform" has been kicked down the field for a few years; the sheer volume of work that crosses my desk; etc. Nonetheless, one doesn't have to have too many gray hairs...
There is a story that circulated around D.C. a number of years ago about the traditional little old lady in tennis shoes who approached her congressman and demanded he do something about some environmental cause or another. The congressman responded: "But Madam, we passed legislation last year to solve that very problem." She replied, "I know, I promised to lobby for it last year but couldn't because I was sick." When it comes to legislation and administrative action by the...
Every two years or so we experience a glorious exercise known generally as the political cycle wherein, heretofore, unknown members of our community stand up and invite all the world to throw stones at them. At the conclusion of the exercise, those who have hung around long enough get to vote on who withstood the beating best. Truly this is euphoric to watch if, like me, you are a political junkie. The victor then gets to wrap himself in the mantle of public office and does...
As we approach the 2010 primary election (which will be history by the time this article is read), it is worth pondering how rapidly Alaskans, like the crewmates of the Ancient Mariner, are plunging toward oblivion in the midst of a sea of plenty. The warnings of those who opposed statehood are now beginning to take shape. Alaska will never be able to feed itself, they argued. Proponents pointed to the vast wealth of the state and for a brief moment in time their faultless log...
On July 9 Alaska's Superior Court entered an order in a case now pending against the state's Department of Natural Resources concerning the propriety of a series of multiple land use permits and temporary water rights permits that had been issued to the Pebble Limited Partnership and its predecessors in conjunction with the exploration of the so-called Pebble deposit in southwest Alaska. I am counsel of record for an intervenor in this matter; therefore, it ill-behooves me to...
I have to admit it. Sometimes, I secretly hang with a few liberal friends. Perhaps I harbor a masochistic tendency, or maybe it is just an intuitive compulsion to embrace the notion that one should keep his friends close and his enemies even closer. In any case, I find that many left-leaners are bright and well educated, which to me constitutes the best argument against a free public education. After all, if what they get out of four years of undergraduate school is that...
Mark Twain once pointedly observed that "no man's life, liberty or property is safe when the Legislature is in session." Certainly, we can all feel much safer when the 90th day of the Alaska Legislature arrives - especially this most recent Legislature, which, fortunately, was prevented from doing too much harm by a split Senate. Nonetheless, there were threats that unresolved issues would be tossed back on the table once again next year. Among the issues that just won't seem to accept perpetual sublimation as its fate is the...
It is said that two things are certain: death and taxes. Since most of us have just sent off our annual tribute to the sovereign, it seems timely to reflect on death for a while. Always an indelicate subject in our society, death stalks us all. None of us are getting out of here alive. Of the 61 million people who will shuffle off the mortal coil this year, roughly 90 percent will die as a result of some medical condition, which leaves all other causes with the rest. Half of...
The Red Dog Mine is almost surely going to close in a very few short months. Why? They are not out of zinc ore already. It is because there is a little gypsum in their wastewater. Gypsum! What does that portend? Gypsum is a common enough material. It is used in wall boards in home construction. It is made into plaster of Paris. You remember plaster of Paris. Kids use it to make volcano models. You get a little bag of it at the hardware store, add water, and soak newspaper...
