{"id":12716,"date":"2020-09-25T17:36:50","date_gmt":"2020-09-25T17:36:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/first-pepperoni.flywheelsites.com\/?p=12716"},"modified":"2020-09-25T17:36:50","modified_gmt":"2020-09-25T17:36:50","slug":"pebble-tapes-reveal-deceitful-company-at-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wildsalmoncenter.org\/2020\/09\/25\/pebble-tapes-reveal-deceitful-company-at-work\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cPebble Tapes\u201d Reveal Deceitful Company At Work"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Pebble\u2019s CEO resigns and members of Congress question the trustworthiness of the company after undercover interviews become public. <\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

By Sam Snyder, Alaska Campaign Manager <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just when you thought the fight against the Pebble Mine couldn\u2019t get more dramatic, it did. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Monday, the environmental nonprofit, Environmental Investigations Agency, released a series of recordings called the <\/strong>Pebble Tapes<\/a><\/strong><\/span>.<\/span><\/a> In the tapes, Pebble Mine CEO Tom Collier and Northern Dynasty Minerals CEO Ron Thiessen describe to supposed investors about the size and future of the project, their relationship to Alaska’s Senators, Alaska\u2019s Governor, and the Trump Administration. The “investors” turned out to be EIA investigators, and the release of these tapes to the world has set off a series of cascading events, which appear to be far from finished.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At face value, these tapes reveal that Pebble has been lying to Alaskans, Americans, permitting agencies, and even Congress. While they have steadily sold a story of a mine that would last twenty years, company execs brag on tape about a mine lasting more than 180 years<\/a>, explain multiple expansion scenarios, and even discuss connections to the proposed Donlin Gold Mine 180 miles away. This admission confirms what many have long feared and suspected: Pebble\u2019s first phase is just the beginning<\/strong> of a potentially disastrous plan to turn the headwaters of Bristol Bay into a mining district<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In these tapes, they brag about a mine lasting more than 180 years,<\/span> explain multiple expansion scenarios, and even discuss connections to the proposed Donlin Gold Mine 180 miles away.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Since taking the helm of Pebble in 2014, Tom Collier has led a public relations campaign to build a mine he insisted was \u201csmaller\u201d and \u201csafer.\u201d In every venue possible, including in front of Congressional oversight committees, he maintained that Pebble was pursuing a 20-year mine and had no intention or plans to expand that mine<\/a>. Yet in the Pebble Tapes, Collier and Ron Thiessen openly discussed how they have downplayed the size of the mine as a means to \u201cimpact perception\u201d and explained that once initially permitted, the expansion of Pebble would be \u201cunstoppable.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that\u2019s not the half of it. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n