Do You Want to Live In a Mining Town?
Like most of the folks in this town I plan on spending the rest of my life right here in Haines. I am concerned about the future of our town. Major changes could diminish the quality of our social, economic and physical environment.
The proposed development of a large copper mine located high in our watershed is a huge threat to Haines. Any objective review of the relationship between large scale corporate mining and the welfare of adjacent small communities shows that over the long term, most towns would have been much better off if the minerals were left in the ground.
Giant, corporate-controlled mines destabilize small towns by permanently degrading the health of the local environment, creating an erratic and inequitable boom-bust economy, and fostering a transient workforce that never truly engages in the local community.
Ask someone who lives near the Mt. Polley mine near Williams Lake British Columbia about how the mine has impacted their lives, rivers and lakes. Is this what we want for our community? Are economic instability and ecological risk really what we want for the future of our town?
Tom Faverty