Since 2010 the American EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has been looking into the impact the proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska might have on the local environment and the Native American communities nearby. This week their report was published, and it makes grim reading.
Gold mines take a terrible toll on the surrounding ecology. More than a million tonnes of material has to be sifted for every half-ton of gold, but gold is gold, right? It’s like, precious. So who cares? Well, as it happens, the local population does. They rely on the sock-eye salmon that swim in their rivers for their survival, and the stocks will be devastated if the mine goes ahead. And a huge, ugly scar will be left on the earth, at present a beautiful, untouched piece of Arctic wonderland.
Will Donald Trump take a hand to stop this despoliation? Will he fuck. He’s been systematically pulling the teeth of the EPA since he came into office, even putting a director in place who has been implacably opposed to almost everything the EPA has been trying to achieve over the last 20 years. Trump has said he’s interested in “clean air, and clean water; that’s about it”. But is it just the air he breathes, and the water he drinks? I think so. He won’t give a flying fuck about the problems of a far-flung land and the people who live there.
So look out Alaska. You’re in for it now. If you want to stop this outrage, you’re going to have to do it yourself. Don’t expect any help from your president.
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