The Koch Brothers Invade Alaska: Nation, Guard Your Salmon (The Mudflats)

[Blue_In_AK]

I'm reprinting this in its entirety because it's important, and I know Jeanne/Shannyn, et al., won't mind.

http://www.themudflats.net/2011/09/15/the-koch-brothers-invade-alaska-nation-guard-your-salmon/

I was checking out the #nopebble hashtag on Twitter the other day, to see what links or comments had come in addressing what would be the continent’s largest open pit copper and gold mine situated at the headwaters of the world’s largest red salmon fishery in Bristol Bay, Alaska. It doesn’t take a fisheries expert or a biochemist to know that a project that would require 700 foot tall earthen dams in one of the world’s most active seismic zones to completely hold back lakes of deadly toxins forever, is a recipe for disaster.

Our Hero

Alaskan fishermen and thinking people in general are on the record opposing the mine, but sometimes we feel a bit outgunned and overpowered by the huge international mining conglomerates and the Pebble Partnership that try to buy and own the message up here. Recently, Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington state has joined the fight against Pebble Mine. Thousands of her constituents in Washington are also commercial fishermen in Alaska. They are afraid, as are Alaska residents and anyone else who recognizes the importance of this wild food source, that Pebble will destroy a way of life, thousands of jobs, an ecosystem, and a whole lot of fish. Her constituents asked her to take a stand, and she did. (See the call to action on Facebook below)



So, it surprised me that there, sandwiched in between my tweet thanking Maria Cantwell, and another tweet thanking Maria Cantwell, in the stream of the #nopebble hashtag on Twitter was a tweet from something called “Resourceful Earth” saying: Help us spread the word and STOP Maria Cantwell.

My head tilted to one side like a golden retriever on the receiving end of a whistle.

Who ARE these people?

I decided to check out who “Resourceful Earth” was, and followed the link. I was greeted by a website that looked downright fabric softener fresh – a fabric softener that might have been used by George Orwell. Swoopy logo, clean blues and whites and greens, and at the bottom an American worker – a kindly surveyor with a tripod and a hard hat standing knee deep in emerald green grass. I was waiting for the Snuggle laundry bear to leap out of the monitor and tickle me under the chin. And yet, Resourceful Earth is all in favor of this toxic open pit mine that puts half of the nation’s catch of red salmon under serious threat? Of course the images on the website didn’t show what happened AFTER the iconic surveyor left. Snuggle bear doesn’t look so good after a day wallowing through toxic mine waste. And just to clarify – no, there are no plush green lawns near Bristol Bay. There is tundra.



There is also a petition on the website which asks people to tell that so-and-so Maria Cantwell to mind her own business, and stay out of Alaska politics. What business does she have taking a stand against Pebble Mine? Yeah, she’s a duly elected representative of the people, put in office via the democratic process and represents constituents whose livelihood depends on the preservation of Bristol Bay…but nobody cares what she has to say. Butt out Cantwell! This is Alaska!

“Who are these people?” I thought.

It turned out to be difficult to figure that out. We’ve all learned to be wary of websites, mailers, and other forms of political communication that make it really difficult to find out who’s behind them. No worries, mudpups, your sleuthing homework has been done for you.

All is Revealed

It turns out that behind the warm, gauzy “resourceful earth” sales pitch is none other than a right-wing DC think tank called The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI)—the brainchild of a corporate lobbyist named Fred Smith. A professional climate science denier and enemy of any and all corporate oversight, Mr. Smith famously said of global warming that “it looks pretty good. Warmer winters, warmer nights, no effects during the day because of clouding, sounds to me like we’re moving to a more benign planet.”

Myron Ebell, who heads up CEI’s climate science skepticism, is a nimble-brained fellow who at one time or another has managed to take all of the following positions:

• Climate change isn’t happening.

• It is happening, but it’s not because of human released carbon dioxide.

• It is happening, and may be human induced, but it will be much cheaper to adapt to the change than to ration the use of fossil fuels.

• It is happening and the consequences will be good for the environment.

I probably should have warned you to sit and grab the arms of your chair before you had to endure so much whiplash inducing spin. Mr. Ebell probably needs one of those head bags full of ice. That much back and forth might induce swelling.

Help, Help, the Glaciers are Coming!

Alaskans will appreciate this one – CEI has run ads claiming the world’s glaciers are “growing, not melting… getting thicker, not thinner.” I guess that’s why the observation room at the Begich-Boggs Visitors Center in Portage that was built so you could stand inside and behold the majesty of Portage Glacier now shows you the majesty of Portage Lake because the glacier itself is nowhere in sight. It cited Science Magazine articles to support its claims, only to be rebuked by the publication’s editor for “misrepresenting the conclusions of the two cited Science papers” and by the papers’ own author for “a deliberate effort to confuse and mislead the public about the global warming debate.”

Ouch. It’s never fun to be smacked down by the very sources upon which one’s claims are based.

In addition to the nefarious and delusional Mr. Smith, another notable on the CEI roster is “adjunct fellow” Steven Milloy, whose other paid gig is as columnist for, (wait for it) Fox News.

Following the Money

The other thing we need to do when determining if the message of an organization is sincere and genuine is, of course, to follow the money. So put on your backpacks, head lamps and pith helmets, and let’s start trekking into the dark, dark jungle that is a Libertarian think tank. (Cue scary music) CEI receives its funding from individuals like right-wing sugardaddy Richard Mellon Scaife, and corporations like every Alaskan’s favorite – Exxon—a company with a famously stellar environmental track record in the state. They’ve donated more than $2 million to CEI. That’s $2 million of the settlement they appealed and won away from the fishermen in Prince William Sound after the Valdez oil spill. I guess they were saving it up for something really important.

And there’s yet another funding source of whom you may be familiar, and really shouldn’t come as any surprise. Yes, it’s the Koch brothers. It’s almost funny in a predictable, horrifying sort of way.

In case you missed the irony while you were feeling all riled up about this – A DC lobbyist working for a Libertarian think tank funded by multinational corporations including Exxon, and Lower 48 fat cats is telling a U.S. Senator, elected by the people and representing Bristol Bay fishermen to butt out and mind her own beeswax, because Pebble Mine is awesome and should be allowed to go through.

Intermission

(We allow you a moment to process the irony, like a filtration organ removes toxins from the bloodstream)

We Don’t Need No Stinking Oversight

In addition to its dubious efforts in the arena of global warming, CEI has also applied itself to fighting health and safety regulations, fuel economy standards, the 1998 settlement agreement with Big Tobacco, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) safety rules, and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. The latter was created in 2002 by the Sarbanes–Oxley Act, and is comprised of 5 SEC-appointed individuals who attempt to provide what little oversight we have of corporate shenanigans and Wall Street speculation. CEI, of course, prefers the Enrons and Bernie Madoffs of the world don’t have to subject themselves to pesky, independent audits. Why would those be desireable? Frankly, they’re just a downer. If Goldman Sachs wants to defraud investors by betting against its own clients, isn’t that what “freedom” is all about?

OK, so now that we know who we’re dealing with, the next question is – who believes this stuff?

Who Believes this Stuff?

So, when these corporate-minded, money-oriented D.C. lobbyists put their little message in the internet bottle and urged people to speak out on the Resourceful Earth Facebook Page, who showed up? Oftentimes it’s informative to see who is attracted to a particular message. Surely, if you believe the story of Resourceful Earth, their page would be populated by thoughtful sounding mining engineers, mine workers, corporate types, business Republicans, philosophically pure Libertarians, and perhaps even some bought and paid for scientists who will attest to the fact that no mine anywhere has ever devastated its surroundings and we’re all just a bunch of silly salmon-huggers.

You might think that, but oh, no.

It’s them:



So, if God put metal there to create American jobs, why did he put fish there? And what about the 17,000+ jobs that they already provide now?

Yes, these are the only people who are buying this toxic PR waste. And that actually made me feel a little bit better.

The Targets

I also found it interesting to see who exactly is in the Koch brothers’ crosshairs. There are two somebodies, it turns out. The first is Stop the Drills, an organization opposed to offshore drilling of oil. The second is one that I’ve written extensively about here at The Mudflats – No Dirty Gold. Resourceful Earth says of No Dirty Gold that they “oppose gold mining.” In reality, No Dirty Gold pledge has been signed by dozens of large jewelers who promise never to use gold from Pebble Mine. Tiffany Jewelers led the charge because they know that even though their lifeblood is gold, that Pebble Mine is the wrong mine in the wrong place and the swimming red gold it protects is actually more important than the shiny kind. They also know (like jewelers who pledged not to sell blood diamonds) that people like it when you do the right thing.

Sign the Petition

Please take a moment to sign the Twitter petition by clicking HERE. http://act.ly/48p You’ll be urging Senator Cantwell to stand strong against CEI, Resourceful Earth, the Koch Brothers, and other powerful interests who are pressuring her about her decision to oppose Pebble Mine.

A Call to Action on Twitter

For those of you unfamiliar with the Twitterverse, #GivePebbleaChance with the little pound sign in front of it is what is known as a “hashtag”. What that means is that anyone searching Twitter to read about the latest and greatest from CEI, or Resourceful Earth about Pebble Mine will go there. It’s like a file heading where a particular conversation on a topic is stored. And it’s also like #GivePeaceAChance, only totally different.



But the thing about hashtags is that they don’t discriminate about who can and cannot post there. That’s how I found all this out in the first place – Resourceful Earth posted something and used the #nopebble hashtag so their toxic message would leak out and pollute our pristine twitter stream. So, all I’m saying is that if you’re on Twitter, it might be fun to educate the people who are using that hashtag with interesting and informational articles and messages about why Pebble Mine is the worst idea in the history of ever.

A Call to Action on Facebook

Please take a moment and visit Maria Cantwell‘s Facebook page and “Like” or “Comment” on her most recent post regarding her commitment to Save Bristol Bay. Let the senator hear our thank you loud and clear!

More here:
http://www.renewableresourcescoalition.org/

[glinda]

1. Thank you! Kick this forward!

[SpiralHawk]

2. the k and the r

Wow - billionaire fatcat republicons got their pudgy fingers in every kind of plot to f*uck up our planet while further enriching themselves

Sicko

[Blue_In_AK]

3. I would guess that 75 to 80% of Alaskans don't want this mine.

It's a huge issue up here, and they are attempting to steamroll us.

It's not that people are anti-mining -- my own brother is camp manager at the Donlin Creek mine out in Western Alaska -- but this mine is absolutely the wrong mine in the wrong place. This would be one of the largest open-pit mines on the face of the planet in the headwaters of the Bristol Bay watershed in a very seismically active zone. It's just insanity to think that there would never be an enomous catastophe.

[NV Whino]

4. Ah well...

GOP = insanity R us.

My god, we have to get rid of these people!

[malaise]

5. The kochroaches are everywhere

:puke:

[DCKit]

6. This post should have well over 100 recs already.

WTF?

[Blue_In_AK]

7. Thank you.

I've been posting about this issue for a while now without much success. I guess people don't care that much what happens in Alaska, but this is such a much bigger potential disaster than drilling in ANWR ever thought of being, I'm going to keep on screaming it from the rooftops.

There aren't that many sustainable wild salmon fisheries left, and Bristol Bay definitely tops the list. I just hope we can stop this.

[stevedeshazer]

8. Awesome post.

Thanks, BIA!

K & R