It seems like Alaskan natives, including tribes and salmon, have won the battle against Northern Dynasty Minerals, a Canadian based company bent on destroying Bristol Bay. At least for now.
Bristol Bay is the largest salmon spawning area in the world and Alaskan native tribes have been fighting against this project since it was first announced 20 years ago. The current governor, however, can only see revenue to go into the state’s coffers and really doesn’t give a hoot about native tribes trying to protect the area.
Secret videotapes show how mine leaders funded politicians who supported their desired destruction of the Bay for gain and worked to defeat those who did not. The release of the tapes embarrassed Sen. Lisa Murkowski who was fingered as a soft spot for the company. Let’s hope this is the final nail in the coffin for the robber barons who would destroy the Bay, Alaskan natives, and the salmon.
Prayer for the Day
Hold us in the present, Lord of time and space,
For we know the winter will soon be half over;
Free us from the demons of our past, God of freedom,
For we know that they can shape us in ways we do not want;
Open us to the future, Holy broadener of our mind,
So we love beyond the boundaries we set for ourselves.
In the name of the One who showed us the way,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
It’s time for us to work for lasting protections for the entire Bristol Bay watershed that match the scope of the threat to this special place.
- Chris Wood, president of the conservation group Trout Unlimited
Today’s announcement is historic progress.
- Alannah Hurley, President of United Tribes of Bristol Bay
Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind…
Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, so that a flood of waters may cover you?
Can you send forth lightnings so they may go and say to you, Here we are?
Who has put wisdom in the inward parts, or given understanding to the mind?
Who has the wisdom to number the clouds?
Or who an tilt the waterskins of the heavens when the dust runs into a mass
And the clods cling together?
Job 38: 34-38