"NANA would like to offer a different view regarding the recent EPA study on Red Dog Mine than the Jan. 29 Daily News presented. The headline, which focused on subsistence harvests, missed the real news in the study.

EPA found that operating Red Dog for an additional twenty years will have a substantial positive effect on public health and well-being in our NANA region, as the quality of education and schools, community infrastructure and services supported by Red Dog continues. Red Dog Mine makes a positive contribution to the entire state. The environmental study reports Red Dog's total 2007 Alaska spending at $321 million, including $109 million paid in taxes to the state of Alaska. Furthermore, Red Dog created 543 direct jobs in 2007 with a payroll of $46 million.

This was accomplished while still, according to EPA's study, protecting downstream drinking water and providing for a healthy fish population. Now that's news!

The study did report reduced beluga and caribou harvests by nearby villagers. This data came from subsistence surveys conducted in 2008 in Kivalina and Noatak. This traditional knowledge is important and must be considered when reviewing any potential project in rural Alaska. However, EPA fails to distinguish between causation and correlation. It just assumes that changes to subsistence harvests occurring over the last 20 years are caused by Red Dog Mine. There is much more to the story."

Get the Story:
Marie Greene: EPA study found that Red Dog Mine benefited region (The Anchorage Daily News 2/8)

Related Stories:
v EPA backs Alaska Native village in subsistence study (1/29)