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Mine Gets OK to Turn Alaska Lake into Waste Dump

by Lori Pottinger

Recent federal rulings permitting a gold mining company to dump toxic waste into a pristine mountain lake in Alaska could have widespread ramifications for rivers, streams and lakes in the US.

In June, the US Supreme Court ruled that the proposed permit for the mine did not entail a violation of the nation's preeminent water pollution law, the Clean Water Act. Then in August, the US Army Corps of Engineers (which oversees much of the nation's dam- and canal-building) gave the mine's owners the needed permit to begin.

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Raul Seixas at the Tapajós River Garimpos (archive  )

Raul Seixas at the Tapajós River Garimpos (archive  )

When I traveled to Itaituba last month for community meetings on the planned Tapajós River dams, for me the image still remained of the period of the region's "Gold Rush" of the 1980's, when Itaituba was still a small town whose economy was dependent on providing services for the 70,000 gold dredgers ("garimpeiros") along the river. I found that this no longer applies – the city has matured, and has become more tranquil and organized. Now, Eletrobrás plans to take the region back to its glory days – this time, promising that Itaituba will become a launching pad from which workers will be dispatched to build a huge dam in the Amazonia National Park. The company has even posted a ludicrous video, which argues that there are too many protected areas in the region, and asks us to believe that helicopters will beam down workers who will open clearings in the rainforest to build the dam. Let's flash back to 1985, when Raul Seixas, arguably Brazil's most original rock-and-roller, was summoned to Itaituba to play a series of shows for the gold miners...