Donlin Mine
At Risk of Losing Natural Habitat
For the past several years, Inletkeeper has joined forces with Tribes and others to protect fish habitat from the impacts of the proposed Donlin mine along the shores of the Kuskokwim River to the waters of Cook Inlet. Now, as we face a critical gas shortage in Cook Inlet, we are concerned about Donlin’s impact on the cost of energy for Alaskans.
Donlin Mine: No Good For Anyone
The Donlin Gold mine would be a massive open-pit complex next to the Kuskokwim River in southwest Alaska, and it presents sweeping risks to wild salmon habitat stretching from the west side of Cook Inlet, through the Susitna Valley drainage, and into the Kuskokwim watershed.
The Donlin mine poses an unprecedented threat to wild Alaskan salmon and the people and cultures who rely on them. The Kuskokwim is the most important subsistence river for Native Tribes in Alaska. Pollution discharges and habitat destruction from the mine pose serious threats to subsistence resources and the dozens of Native Villages they support.
Furthermore, the natural gas pipeline needed to fuel the mine will impact hundreds of wild salmon streams along its 315 mile path from Cook Inlet, over the Alaska Range, to the mine site in the Kuskokwim basin. This corridor – pocked with airstrips, gravel pits and access roads – would open up motorized access to a vast acreage of untrammeled wildlands and create vulnerable pathways that will accelerate the spread of wild fires, invasive species and spruce bark beetle infestations in the Susitna Valley and beyond. Together, the mine complex and the gas pipeline create a broad array of threats to wild salmon never before seen in Alaska.
REPORT: Cook Inlet Natural Gas Market Outlook with Incremental Demand from Donlin Mine
Developed by: Mark A. Foster, Mark A Foster & Associates (MAFA)
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