The Pros And Cons Of Bristol Bay

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Out of many concerns of things in Alaska environmentally, one of the most daunting is the Bristol Bay dilemma. It has been a problem for very long, and seems to be getting more controversy than many other issues. This issue is about if a pebble mine should be built there or not. Many people provide the argument about how the Alaska bay doesn’t need to be put at risk especially, because it’s a valuable food source. Bristol bay is a salmon hotspot! In this bay over 70 million salmon each year are produced. This bay supplies over 40% of the world’s sockeye salmon to people globally. The bay goes from the arc of the Alaska Range to the Bering Sea which is a very vast amount of space. Many Arctic Wildlife such as brown and black bears, whales, …show more content…

It also will be located in an earthquake zone which is extremely dangerous. The reason why it’s so risky is because a two square mile wide and two thousand feet deep pit will be dug if mine developers get what they want. They will also make a block-cave mine close to it. From this over 10 billion tons of rock will be extracted. Now, there are also beneficial aspects of this such as many people will be getting jobs from this. Considering the amount of hard labor that would be happening it holds true that many will get jobs, but they will be temporary for most because after it’s built not as much labor will be needed. It would increase tax revenue for Alaska helping it to become more economically stable. It would also decrease the foreign dependence on many raw materials. All these factors are why many proponents believe this is a great idea. Overall risking Alaskan wildlife, and destroying the way of some of the native people who live in that area isn’t worth a pebble mine. Destroying Alaskan culture isn’t worth a pebble mine. The upkeep of this operation isn’t worth a pebble. None of this adds up to it being a realistic ideal for many