Pebble mine would generate toxic waste in a seismically active region.
Photo courtesy of The Library of Congress.
Pebble Mine would sit in the Pacific Ring of Fire--a 25,000 mile stretch which has almost continues earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The Pebble Limited Partnership does not know exactly where the fault lies--no one does. The proposed Pebble Mine would last a few decades in operation but the toxic tailings would have to be held behind a dam forever. This dam is a short-sighted and insufficient approach to a long-term, broad-range pollution problem. Maybe in our lifetime there will be no large earthquake. But what about our children's lifetime? Even if a large earthquake didn't break the dam but just caused a small leak... say this small leak takes years to detect and by that time it cannot be mended... and enough toxic tailings has leaked to kill an entire river of fish. Say this is in a hundred years, when the Pebble Limited Partnership has traveled ocean's away back to their homes.
