Les Gara Stands Up for Alaska’s Salmon – Where is Captain Zero?
“Destroying a wild salmon stream to sell coal to China is about the worst idea in Alaska’s proud history of salmon protection. We’ve always promoted responsible mines. But this one is irresponsible,” said Representative Les Gara, of state plans allowing dredging of eleven miles of the Chuitna River’s tributaries to keep moving forward. We couldn’t agree more. On October 26, Gara wrote to Governor Sean Parnell and Commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources Dan Sullivan (no relation to the hinky Mayor) seeking proof of any wild salmon streams that have been so badly dredged, and that have fully recovered. So far……
Vulture’s Picnic – My Home is Now a Strange Place (Installment 4)
Here is the next installment of Greg Palast’s new book Vulture’s Picnic. He has allowed The Mudflats to bring you Chapter 7 – My Home is Now a Strange Place in its entirety. This is an exclusive excerpt, just for Mudflatters. I find it absolutely riveting. If you need to catch up, here are links to the first three installments. Installment 1 Installment 2 Installment 3 ********************************** Chapter 7, continued By Greg Palast STEINHATCHEE, FLORIDA We also needed witnesses. I needed insiders who would spill to outsiders. To find them, I needed a hound dog. I needed a blonde. I…
Oyster Roundup – Bears, Bones and a Brrrricane!
~Thick and fast they came at last, and more, and more, and more! Enjoy today’s dose of random stuff on the half-shell! Links in the titles. Brrrrrricane Makes Landfall The Bering Sea megastorm that made landfall yesterday on the West Coast of Alaska did damage to buildings, caused massive erosion in some areas, and flooding in others. So far, thank goodness, there have been no reports of injury or loss of life. Hardy and sensible coastal Alaskans prepared well, and the Coast Guard rode out the storm with no distress calls to answer. The storm surge is expected to continue…
Open Thread – Halloween Hat Tip to Senator Mark Begich
A nod to Senator Mark Begich who won the newly created Halloween Hat Tip Award for his unorthodox and completely awesome holiday activities. While the little ghouls and goblins rang doorbells for candy, Senator Begich visited his fellow Senators delivering these killer No Frankenfish buttons. Begich proposed legislation earlier this month that would make it illegal to sell, posses, and/or purchase genetically-altered salmon in the U.S. It has gained support from his Republican counterpart in the Senate, Lisa Murkowsi (R-Alaska)… Both Alaskan senators have questioned the economic and environmental impact of introducing genetically-altered salmon into the national food supply.
State of Alaska Sues Lake & Peninsula Borough Over No Pebble Vote
Those darned uppity citizens. The Pebble Partnership already sued them once to keep an initiative off the local ballot. It didn’t work. The Save Our Salmon initiative on the Lake & Peninsula Borough ballot was recently passed by local residents near Bristol Bay. It will give the Borough and its residents the right to decide if they want the continent’s largest open pit mine in their back yard, which happens to also be on the shores of the largest wild salmon fishery on the continent. Not surprisingly, and even after the success of the mining proponents to invalidate scores of…
We’re #1! Alaskans, Violence, and Firearms
By Wickersham’s Conscience This post started out as a semi-serious recounting of one of the two documented instances of a cougar – a mountain lion – in Alaska. It seems that back in 1989, an off-grid homesteader outside of Wrangell named Paul Matteoni claimed to have opened his door and have seen two green eyes. He didn’t know what it was, so he shot it. A quintessential Alaskan reaction. What “it” was turned out to be a cougar. Probably the big cat had wandered down the Stikine River Valley from British Columbia, where there is a small but stable population….
Governor Sean Parnell Supports Destruction of Thriving Salmon Habitat for Coal
Mudflats readers will remember coverage over the last year of the issue of the “Unsuitable Lands Petition” that Cook Inletkeeper and the Chuitna Citizens Coalition submitted to the state. Basically, what this petition did was to put forth the idea that certain areas are just plain unsuitable for coal strip mining – specifically the areas directly on either side of the Chuit River (above), and its tributaries that were deemed “important salmon habitat” for Cook Inlet. The petition, if successful, would ensure that a narrow ribbon of land – 50 feet on either side of tributaries, and 100 feet on…
Bristol Bay Votes to “Save Our Salmon” from the Threat of Pebble Mine
Voters in the Lake and Peninsula Borough near Bristol Bay have had their say. After being blanketed with pro-Pebble mine propaganda telling residents that if the initiative passed it would jeopardize future projects like roads and airports and docks, the majority of the residents remain unconvinced. The Pebble Partnership has stated repeatedly that if local residents don’t want the mine, then there will be no mine. According to an October 2008 article on the Fast Company website, Anglo American’s CEO Cynthia Carroll said, “I will not go where people don’t want us. I just won’t. We’ve got enough on…
Open Thread – Fish Not Bombs
There have been many wonderful, inspired signs at the various Occupy rallies around the world, but this one gave me the biggest smile. I admit it. Next up is a huge photo album of the rallies around the state of Alaska. Deep thanks to the people who came out and occupied Fairbanks, Juneau, Anchorage, Homer, Bethel, and Unalaska!