Jay Cadmus of the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council says his organization worked extensively with Coeur Alaska to find a waste disposal system that would have provided jobs and while not harming the environment, but Coeur ultimately backed a system that will destroy a lake. The Supreme Court today allowed Coeur to proceed with its mining operations.
"Those jobs at the Kensington mine could be provided without having to use a lake as a tailings storage facility," Cadmus said. "In my mind it's not a question of jobs; it's a question of how one cares for the environment. And we feel that if someone's going to use a public resource like our clean water, they need to be held to a very high standard." (0:59) Listen
Mine Jobs Could Be Created Without Harming Environment, Alaska Conservationists Say
"Those jobs at the Kensington mine could be provided without having to use a lake as a tailings storage facility," Cadmus said. "In my mind it's not a question of jobs; it's a question of how one cares for the environment. And we feel that if someone's going to use a public resource like our clean water, they need to be held to a very high standard." (0:59)
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