To equate natural processes with a short-term targeted extraction and transport of acid-containing ore bodies and to suggest that this will not have an appreciable and damaging effect on water quality is either misleading or naïve.
Acid-mine drainage is a legitimate concern. It is true that the processes of erosion, deposition, uplift, earthquake and glaciation occur naturally and acid-generating material may be exposed from time to time. But this is not the same as specifically targeting, extracting and transporting this acid-containing ore.
Once the ore is brought up from beneath the earth’s surface and exposed to air, the risk of creating and releasing sulfuric acid into our watershed increases exponentially.
Water quality is the most important issue that must be addressed regarding an acid-generating mine upstream of the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve. If, as John Hirsh says, water quality is not an issue, why don’t he and other mine advocates wholeheartedly support Outstanding Natural Resource Water (Tier 3) designation for the Chilkat River? This would assure those of us in the community with concerns about water quality that the river will not be degraded. Our salmon runs have the potential to support a subsistence lifestyle as well as our sustainable tourism and fishing industries into the indefinite future.
The question is, “How much risk are we willing to take for short-term gain?”
Joe Ordonez