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Pebble Mine Update.

by Conservation Slim

In August we thought it was ‘Smooth Sailing’ for saving Bristol Bay as the Army Corps of Engineers, in all their wisdom, could not permit the plan as stated by Pebble Mine Inc. The Army set the bar so high that the corporation would never be able to show it was safe from future flooding and releasing the toxic chemicals into the watershed. Pebble ‘brushed off’ the Army’s letter promising a response which now the Army is not sharing with the public so there is a mystery as to the details.

Much of the problem is due to the silence coming from both Senators Murkowski and Sullivan who Trout Unlimited
Alaska Fund representatives report have not fully put their support behind saving the fishery once and for all. Both claiming that the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) needs to be using their authority under the Clean Water Act to veto the permits sought by Pebble Mine proponents Northern Dynasty Mining Inc.

TU says to write the Senators now and tell them to say ‘NO to the Pebble Mine’.

Lisa Murkowski 302 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington DC 20510 www.murkowski.senatte.gov/public/index.cfm/contact

Dan Sullivan 202 224 3004 (same address as Murkowski) email: www.sullivan.senate.gov/contact/email

I want to send out a special thanks to our members who joined up with the Salinas Fly Fishers and TU to do a couple days of clean up along the Salinas River where the RR tracks and Hwy 1 cross the estuary and where club members put in small boats and float tubes to fish for Striped Bass. Photos show a huge dumpster on site filled with mattresses, tires, furniture and trash galore.   Special thanks to volunteers, Sam Bishop, Jeff Sloboden, Jeff Gose, Scott Kitayama and any others I missed.

I am preparing for the Covid Casting Clinic this Wed and meeting our new ‘Weather Guy at large’ Lee Solomon from KSBW newsroom. We will let Lee decide what to call his new position on the board. eg Weatherman at large or Meteorologist at large, however he decides we want to welcome him this week at the clinic and hope he can find a minute to log into our Wed general meeting Dec 2.

On Dec 5th the following Saturday at 2 PM I will have another casting clinic for those who cannot attend the Wednesday mid week events due to working for a living.  This will be the last casting event till Spring so please RSVP me if you plan to attend and or bring a guest caster friend or relative.

Happy holidays to everyone, please be healthy wealthy and wise and be kind to everyone. 2021 is going to be more topsy turvy than 2020 is my guess.  Let’s all get through this and keep our sanity.  Peace,   ‘Cal Slim’