We’ve been told over and over the Palmer Project will greatly benefit the local economy. There will be winners and losers, but either way, the risk to the river and our sustainable fishing and tourism economies outweighs the potential benefits of these new jobs, most of which will go to transient miners from the lower 48. Meanwhile, mines are notorious for being economically unstable. They open, they close, they reopen and close again as the price of what is being mined rises and falls. It’s hard on the miners for sure, but it’s also a roll of the dice for everyone in the community who decides to depend on the mine’s good fortune, or lack thereof. The recent announcement that the Mt. Polley copper mine in B.C. will close because of declining copper prices should give us all pause. When the closure was announced, Walter Cobb, Mayor of Williams Lake said: “We’re talking not only a couple of hundred employees at the mine, but we’re talking all the support workers, and all the rest that goes along with it.” Mines in remote areas create boom/bust economies, and a small town like Haines will get whipsawed until the company calls it quits for good. After they close, their contaminated waste will still have to be treated for a century or more. Will they keep people here to deal with the mess long after the mine has closed? Another roll of the dice. I don’t think Haines should gamble with its future.
Neil Einsbruch