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Alaska Airlines offers special perks for Alaskans

Unofficial results released by southwest Alaska’s Lake and Peninsula Borough late Monday showed a vote of 280-246 in favor of a ban on large-scale resource extraction activity, including mining, that would destroy or degrade salmon habitat.

The measure was targeted at Pebble Mine, which opponents fear could fundamentally change the landscape and disrupt, if not destroy, a way of life in rural Alaska and threaten one of the world’s premier salmon fisheries.

The mine would be directly above Iliamna Lake, the largest producer of sockeye salmon in the world. Critics have said the potential footprint of the project could cover 15 square miles, with an open pit and network of roads and power lines.

Project officials have said repeatedly that a pre-feasibility study and a formal mine plan haven’t been completed. But supporters have said it could create up to 1,000 long-term jobs in economically depressed rural Alaska.

Project spokesman Mike Heatwole said there has been a concerted effort to cast the project as a choice between mining and salmon. But that isn’t the case – the “core value” of the proposed Pebble Limited Partnership mine would be its co-existence with the fishery, he said Tuesday.

The mine is a joint venture of Canada-based Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. and Anglo American PLC of the United Kingdom. The companies have spent hundreds of millions of dollars scoping out the deposit, which Northern Dynasty has described as the largest undeveloped deposit of its type in the world, with the potential of producing 53 billion pounds of copper, 50 million ounces of gold and 2.8 billion pounds of molybdenum over nearly 80 years.

The partnership had sought to stop Mon day’s vote, arguing in part that the measure would improperly bypass the role of the local planning commission. But a state court judge refused, noting that the Alaska Supreme Court has given deference to initiatives absent proof they would do something unlawful. The judge instead put the case on hold until next month.

The state attorney general’s office has also said the initiative would enact an ordinance that’s “unenforceable as a matter of law.”

The partnership hasn’t decided whether to contest the election or seek a recount, he said. But the group does plan to challenge the initiative in court, Heatwole said.

Art Hackney, a spokesman for initiative supporters, said his side expects to do well in the court fight. But he expects the companies will “throw everything they can” at Monday’s vote to try to get it invalidated.

Read more: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

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Work to continue at Alaska Pebble mine site, despite vote

Little did McEachern, 52, know then that her effort – and the photo of herself bundled up against the cold and holding her sign, with her three rescue dogs by her side – would become one of the more famous images of the Occupy Wall Street protest movement.

“It felt good to stand out there,” she said Monday from her home in Bethel, a town of several thousand people that’s not connected to any major road system.

“I think that Wall Street symbolizes the way our entire economic system affects every part of the United States from a small tundra community to a thriving metropolis like New York,” she said.

The photo taken earlier this month has been shared by thousands of people online after being posted on the Occupy Wall Street Facebook page Oct. 8. As of Tuesday, 8,800 people indicated they liked the photo.

The photo of McEachern crouched on the frosted tundra stands in contrast to other widely used photos of the movement that show mass protests in cities that include New York, Seattle and San Diego.

She accompanied her photo with this message: “Lonely vigil in remote Alaska … The day is chill. The sentiment is solid. Find your spot. Occupy it. Even if it is only your own mind. Keep this going…”

McEachern is an assistant professor in the rural human services program at the University of Alaska’s Kuskokwim campus and a Bethel resident of 14 years. She’s seen tough times on the tundra become tougher, especially now when gas prices are over $6.30 a gallon and jobs are scarce, she said.

Her one-person protest is catching on. Someone approached her at work Monday and offered to join her on the tundra this weekend. She said there’s a message in that, too.

“‘Diane is not alone out there.’ I like that,” she said.

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Alaska woman takes stand to Occupy the Tundra

Alaska is a big, beautiful place to visit in the summer or winter with fun loving, good friendly folks. International students who plan to visit Alaska should have a international student insurance. We are the playground of the North! Please view our Alaskan outdoor photos. We live in Anchorage, Alaska and love to fish, camp and enjoy the outdoors with our children. More photos will be posted when time permits.

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