Worth their weight in fish

Re “A tale of two treasures,” Oct. 27

The article on the proposed Pebble Mine near Alaska’s salmon-rich Bristol Bay should have been titled, “The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg.”

There is a magnificent “golden egg” where this mine is proposed. It is now a thriving ecosystem that includes plants and animals. It supports a fishery that feeds thousands of people.

A part of this ecosystem is an underground deposit of gold and copper, which is now desired by the Pebble Partnership. The amount of destruction caused by removing these minerals will kill the goose, but we are told that the people need jobs.

It is very difficult to believe that there are not many other vastly less destructive ways to help the people of this area maintain their way of life. If the mine comes, the owners of Pebble Partnership will reap the riches and the locals will live with the mess one way or another.

At a time when we are being warned that we have 10 years to change our way of doing things as a species, a mine that will enrich a few and destroy an ecosystem is a gigantic step in the wrong direction. Lorraine Priceman

Woodland Hills

The real treasure in this part of Alaska is the eternally renewing sockeye salmon population. How can we call gold and copper treasures when mining them out of the ground will likely cause the destruction of a pristine environment?

It’s wrong to permit a mine that will operate for 20 years when a healthy salmon population can be harvested for the foreseeable future.

We know how fragile Alaska’s ecosystems are, so we set limits on oil drilling. What hubris now allows some people to try to mine for gold and copper? Monali Khandagle

Van Nuys

Regarding the projected income of $1 billion a year for the proposed Pebble Mine versus the existing $1.5-billion-a-year local salmon industry that supports 14,000 jobs, all would do well to remember that you can’t eat gold or copper. Alan Kishbaugh

Los Angeles