Julia Glotfelty

Pod 1

Pebble Mines

I was born in Alaska and lived there until I was 8 years old. My father was also born in Alaska and grew
up there. Ever since my family moved to Durango, we have been going back to Alaska every summer to
go fish on our fishing boat that is stationed out of Bristol Bay. My dad has been fishing in Alaska since he
was 12. The first time that I got on my father’s boat was when I was 10 years old. I have been hooked on
fishing ever since that moment, and I just finished my 6th year on the boat. Because my family has been
fishing in Alaska and Bristol Bay for so long I have heard a lot about different things that have
improved/impaled the fishing communities all around Alaska. For example, the oil spill that happened in
Prince William Sound in 1989 when 11 million gallons of oil got put into the ocean on accident when the
Exxon Valdez struck the Bligh Reef. But the one that has been most prominent in my life is the argument
on Pebble Mines.

Throughout this project, I have been thinking of ideas for an art piece that can represent my ideas about
this topic. Part of the predicament that I am in right now is I have not been proud of the art that I have
made in the past few weeks. This is because I have not been able to make an art piece to the quality that I
want it to be at. Even in this confusion I still want to show the main messages I was trying to show. One
of the main points that I was trying to convey was that Pebble Mines are bad for the economy and overall
culture of Bristol Bay. This art piece is supposed to represent how the environment and overall culture of
Bristol Bay and the quote that I added are “Don't Turn our Boat Yards into Junk Yards” what this message
is conveying is that I don't want to see a place that I know and love to be left to rot and decay until it is
unrecognizable. (this artist statement is pending over the break)

My thoughts on this topic are that pebble mines should be disbanded. Pebble mines is a very large
porphyry copper, gold, and molybdenum mineral deposit in the Bristol Bay region of Southwest Alaska,
near Lake Iliamna and Lake Clark. In 2008, Pebble was estimated to be the second-largest ore deposit of
its type in the world in terms of the value of the contained metal. All five Eastern Pacific salmon species
spawn in Bristol Bay's freshwater tributaries. The bay is home to the world's largest commercial sockeye
salmon fishery. The Kvichak River has the world's single largest sockeye run. The Kvichak drains from
Lake Iliamna, which is downstream of the deposit. Salmon, herring, and other fisheries account for nearly
75% of local jobs.

I know that my bias is impacted because I do work there in the summers with my family in a community
that I care about. But there are other factors to this problem that I think is prominent. One of them is that
if the pebble mine does go in it will hurt the economy in many ways. The people that have lived there for
thousands of years will have to leave because there will be no food for them. Also, the fisheries employ
thousands of people every year, adding value to the local economy. The wildlife will also suffer the
consequences because one of the three main sources of food is the salmon population. There will also be
concerns for the food industry for the reason that Bristol bay Alaska is one of the top food suppliers to the
whole world, with its salmon production.

Pebble mines do have a few benefactors that could help the economy. One of these reasons is because it is
such a large settlement of copper, and we use copper for everyday items. I reached out to one of the
representatives and asked if they could get back to me so I could ask them some questions.
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Pod 1
I have tried to reach out to multiple different companies and people about this topic. But sadly none of
them have gotten back to me so I have not had the chance to ask them about what they think about pebble
mines.

The biggest problem that I see with Pebble Mines in my mind is that when they are taking the copper out
of the ore it's creating toxic waste that could get into the river system of Bristol Bay. Why This is so
concerning to me is because in Durango Colorado there was a mining incident that resulted in a spill. The
mine called the Gold King Mine was unfortunately upstream from the Animas River. This spill happened
in 2015 and our rivers were orange for at least a year. All of the wildlife in the surrounding areas of the
rivers that were downstream of the Gold King Mine sadly died because they were in contact with the
toxic waste that was produced from that mine. This didn't only impact the wildlife, it also impacted the
community that I lived in.
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Pod 1

Bibliography

Wikipedia. “Pebble Mine.” Pebble Mine - Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 31 Oct. 2021,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pebble_Mine.

Weis, Jenny. “Pebble Mine Stopped by Trump Administration.” Trout Unlimited, 2020,
https://www.tu.org/press-releases/pebble-mine-stopped-by-trump-administration/.

Barker, Meghan, et al. Save Bristol Bay, 2017, http://www.savebristolbay.org/pebbleproposal.

“Alaskan Copper Mine Proposal Sparks Concern ... - Youtube.” Alaskan Copper Mine Proposal Sparks
Concern About Wild Salmon Fishery, NBC Nightly News, 4 Feb. 2018,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pk8KGpt6Ub0.

“Project Overview.” Edited by 2020 Pebble Limited Partnership, The Pebble Partnership, 2020 Pebble
Limited Partnership, 2020, https://pebblepartnership.com/project-overview.

“The End of the Road for Alaska's Pebble Mine Project.” Edited by Verdict Media, Mining Technology,
Verdict Media Limited 2021, 3 Dec. 2020,
https://www.mining-technology.com/features/pebble-mine-alaska/.

Moselle, Kyle. Pebble Mine Project, 26 Mar. 2009,

https://dnr.alaska.gov/mlw/mining/large-mines/pebble/pdf/twg20090326.pdf.

Scot Forge Company. “Forging Expertise You Can Count On.” Scot Forge, Scot Forge Company, 2021,
https://www.scotforge.com/.