Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
head, long blue-black lakes and brown ponds glint in the sun, kettle holes dot the land-
scape, braided streams cut across the tundra, and rivers crash between blue-white gla-
ciers and steep ravines. All the while gravity pulls trillions of gallons of nutrient-rich
freshwater into Bristol Bay.
Every June, some 60 to 70 million salmon low into Bristol Bay to spawn—the largest
number of salmon to spawn in any drainage area in the country. This tsunami of fish
is a highly anticipated event around which the entire ecosystem is scheduled. Ichthy-
ologists, commercial and sport fishermen, lodge owners, cannery operators, floatplane
pilots, former governor Sarah Palin, the rare freshwater seals in Lake Iliamna, bears,
eagles, wolves, gulls, fish, and even the forests look forward to the annual influx of pro-
tein. As the salmon die at the end of their journeys, their rotting carcasses flush nutri-
ents into rivers that support aquatic life and fertilize the areas alongside those streams.
Aside from oil and gas , fish are Alaska's biggest export. The fishing industry is the
state's largest employer, accounting for more jobs than mining, oil, gas, forestry, and ag-
riculture combined. By 2001, some ity-four thousand people earned all or part of their
annual income from fishing in Alaska. Yet mining is a not-inconsiderable business, too,
employing some ity-ive hundred Alaskans , many of whom are Native. When it comes
down to whose interests will prevail, the mineral industry is better organized and has a
lot more money and clout than fishermen do.
Hard-rock metal mining is water-intensive, and the fishing industry is deeply suspi-
cious of the impact Pebble could have on the water around Bristol Bay. In 2006, North-
ern Dynasty (now part of the PLP) applied to use some 35 billion gallons of water a
year , more than the annual consumption of Anchorage, to process minerals, run oper-
ations, and store toxic tailings. Critics believe that the withdrawal of such a tremendous
volume of water will harm the caribou, elk, moose, bear, fox, birds, plants, fish, and hu-
mans that rely on it. They also fear the two likeliest sources of water pollution: acid mine
drainage, which is the outflow of acidic water from hard-rock mining, and poisonous
chemicals used to leach gold from crushed rock, which could slip into local waters.
he geology around the Pebble Deposit is complex and allows surface water and
groundwater to intermingle. If metals extracted from the mine, particularly copper, or
a toxin used in the mining process, such as cyanide or arsenic, enters the water in one
place, it could easily reemerge in another place, and flow downstream into Bristol Bay.
Copper and fish, particularly salmon, do not mix well. Salmon have a keen sense of
smell that they rely on for navigation and to identify predators, prey, kin, and mates.
As they return to their natal streams, salmon follow telltale chemical signatures in the
water. Copper is naturally occurring, but if present in just two to ten parts per billion
over natural levels, it acts as a neurotoxin. Copper can disorient salmon, impair their
immune system, or kill them. “Copper is themost toxic element to fish, even at very
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