Jobs, employment opportunities, wealth, and prosperity are promises made by Northern Dynasty, the Canadian company developing a site in the Bristol Bay region of Alaska. Recently a source of wealth for the people of Bristol Bay has been found buried beneath the Tundra. The rocks contain enormous amounts of ore and minerals, never discovered in such bulk in North America or possibly the world before. These include copper, molybdenum, gold, silver, rhenium, and, palladium worth $300 billion to $500billion dollars. (AAAS New and Notes. In Fight over Alaskan Mine, Public Interest Turns to Science. P. 469) According to Frontline, the mine will create over two-thousand jobs during the initial construction phase and about one-thousand permanent …show more content…
Nearly 12 billion tons of earth would have to be excavated. Most mine excavating jobs only require a high school diploma. Five earthen dams would be built. Ten square miles of impoundments would fill two valleys storing 2.5 billion tons of waste rock and toxic residue that would have to be monitored by humans forever. A 104 mile road would have to be built to transport equipment. Also if Pebble Mine takes off eight other companies have made claims on 700 square miles of nearby land, they are just waiting for the road to be built to lead the way. (Roosevelt, M. Los Angeles Times, Alaskan Economy Faces a Fork in the River. pp. 1-2) All these projects need workers. Sonny Lamont is a local that believes the tradition of living off the land is no longer feasible. He said fish cannot get gas for his car and truck, or pay his light bill, internet bill or phone bill. They need jobs that will allow them to pay for what they need. (Frontline Documentary) Northern Dynasty says that priority will go to hiring local Alaskans.(Frontline Documentary) In the past many promises of jobs did not come into fruition. Rural residents were often times not qualified for the highly technical jobs and regularly passed over. Workers migrate to mining projects from other areas with skills and experience to work in resource extractive industries. The mining companies prefer
Kalgoorlie Gold Mine The Kalgoorlie Mine, also known as the Super Pit due to its impressive depth of 600m ( Figure 1.), is a mine situated in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia ( Figure 2.) that primarily extracts gold. Often considered to be the largest open-cut mine in the nation (goldsfieldtourism.com, article 62), Kalgoorlie extracts a tremendous 22 000 grams of gold each year. The gold rush that happened in Australia (during 1851-1914) was a result of the discovery of many mining sites like the Kalgoorlie gold mine.
A Summary of Daniel Schades "A Militia of the Occupation of the Vancouver Island Coalfields, August 1913" In the article "A Militia of the Occupation of the Vancouver Island Coalfields, August 1913" by Daniel Schade there is distinct disagreement between the owners of the coal mines and the workers. The workers of the coal mines are very displeased with the appalling work conditions that are forced upon them, and thus start a huge uproar by striking. To contravene the strikers, the owners of the mines simply hire new workers. This causes huge animosity in the strikers who begin destroying the mines, burning down houses, and causing various amounts of damage around and in the Vancouver Island coal fields.
The over-harvesting of the beavers and otters who’s furs the company traded had resulted in a massive recession in the industry. Both the North West Company and Hudson’s Bay Company were heavily affected and lost capitol and employees over the course of the next decade. Along with other external forces such as territory wars with the native populations, and pressure coming from the government bodies of both U.S.A. and Canada, North West Company was figuratively brought to its knees. In July of 1821, under increased pressure from the British government and new regulations governing the fur trade, the Hudson’s Bay Company under the leadership of Henry Bathurst purposed a merger to the North West Company. By ignoring their rivalry and combining trade routes and trading post capabilities throughout the Pacific Northwest, the new entity regained a healthy control of the fur trade in North America under the Hudson’s Bay Company’s name.
Learning to Drive the Yukon River: Western Cartography and Athapaskan Story Maps by David Neufeld discusses the “frustrations resulting from the necessity of living an eternal compromise” (Neufeld 17) between Northern Athapaskan and Western perception of nature in the form of cartography. Neufeld then presents that “maps have a social purpose: their design and use is not only embedded within the culture creating them, but they reflect and support the social traditions of that culture” (Neufeld 33). He then analyzes a scientifically produced map from “an American military expedition in the 1880s” (Neufeld 25). His findings were that cartographers mapped the land to “produce an empty land, a land of unexploited resources and opportunities” (Neufeld
Oil has been running the United States of America since before the 1900s. Now, many believe that the use of crude oil is hurtful to the environment and that it should be put to a stop. In 2014, Energy Transfer Partners began construction of a pipeline that would connect North Dakota to Iowa, called the North Dakota Access Pipeline. Since the beginning of the construction, there have been small protests from the local Native American Sioux tribe, but recently the protests have gotten much larger.
The author writes of personal experiences and thoughts to show the importance of the Wildlife refuge in more than just a factual standpoint. Carter notes how disappointed and saddened he would be if the Refuge was destroyed, “Standing on the coastal plain, I was saddened to think of the tragedy that might occur if this great wilderness was consumed by a web of roads and pipelines, drilling rigs and industrial facilities.” This adds power to the argument furthermore, as he demonstrates his attachment to the area and animals living there, “During bright July days, we walked along ancient caribou trails and studied the brilliant mosaic of wildflowers, mosses, and lichens that hugged the tundra… we watched muskox, those shaggy survivors of the Ice Age, lumber along braided rivers that meander toward the Beaufort Sea.” This then gives us a connection to the Refuge so we are more affected to the possible outcome of it being built into an industrial
The transition from a manufacturing based economy to one that is driven by creativity, knowledge, and the provision of high-value services has lead to the increased economic importance of human capital and workforce skills (Gabe, 2012). This presents a challenge to rural policymakers to draw in businesses by providing high human capital workers and innovation in technology development, which is rarely found outside of cities. The types of skills available in the workforces differs greatly between rural and urban areas and this has a measurable effect on the indicators of economic growth and development and are cause for examination into how these differences in skill may influence economic vitality and employment growth prospects for rural areas. With rural areas having an economy largely composed of low-skill occupations—such as laborers, makers, machinists, etc.—with slow growth projected for the future. The highest-skilled occupations—engineers, scientists, analysts, etc.—that are expected to grow the fastest are underrepresented in rural areas.
The Top 10 Things to Do and See in Whistler, BC "Welcome to Canada" many would say in whistler, BC: and what a welcome indeed! Accommodations, from condos to luxury hotels, to bustling ski resorts that packed along the humble village stroll is what awaits you in this dazzling and chilled path. Lined with many restaurants, shops, and galleries, Whistler sits at the feet of two of the most sizeable mountains in the immediate area. Combined, the two peaks form the biggest winter sports arena in North America, all the while an infamous village provides access to some of the best skiing in the world--
Thesis The Colorado Silver Mining Boom (1879-1893) inspired a race for the right to lay railroad tracks through the Colorado Royal Gorge. Conflict between the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway turned into a violent war that created turmoil for the railroad industry and for the courts. On March 27, 1880 a compromise was forged when the Treaty of Boston ended the conflict that had helped shape the American transportation system. The Steam Engine
One major event that happened in the Mine Wars was at Paint Creek. In 1912 and 1913, Paint Creek went on a strike. It was one of the bloodiest conflicts in the 20th century. The strike started on April 18, 1912. The strike started because one of the operators rejected the demand of their unionized workers for a wage increase.
Coalmining was a prominent industry throughout eastern Pennsylvania, northern Maryland, and Wyoming. In 1885, legislation was passed in order to restrict the working age of miners. Breaker boys, who worked aboveground to sort slate, rocks, and other debris from the coal, were required to be at least twelve years of age. Underground miners were required to be at least fourteen years of age. Boys ' parents often presented a fake birth certificate with an altered date of birth in order to have their children, who were often as young as five or six years of age, work in the mines.
Due to the increase in employment, citizens felt secure in their workforce. Many rural workers moved to urbanized areas for more career opportunities. As mentioned before, farmers throughout the 1920s saw an exponential increase in Canada’s trade, which meant more development and improvements for the agricultural world. Despite the significant growth in agriculture, farmers still struggled with debt due to the failing crop prices. In general, the ‘20s allowed for more flexibility and advancements for workers, but farmers still struggled with
The Gold Rush was one of the great movements westward, one that marked an American tendency of uprooting one’s life in the pursuit of wealth. Over 100 years later, the turn of the century marked another great exodus that paralleled that of 1849. The motivation for this movement is no longer a lust for gold but now, a thirst for oil. Within the past seven years, North Dakota has seen the largest oil boom in modern history; small, sleepy Midwest towns have been turned into booming oil towns accompanied by the backdrop of constantly working drilling rigs, a sight that used to only be seen in the oil rich Middle East. Thousands of jobs were created by this new industrialization and North Dakota’s economy is flourishing.
And so have their ancestors. The tradition of them living off of the fish will be gone. Alaska has very clean water and that is why it is very rich in wildlife. If the Pebble Mine is approved, acid drainage will occur and leave the crystal clean water polluted with many bad chemicals. The chemicals ruin the salmon's sense of smell which will kill them.
TAPS transports 17% of the United State’s domestic petroleum. If the pipeline were to stop, “A loss of that production would increase prices by at least 10 to 16 percent” (Balan). This is very important, as the majority of the American population is in constant need of these resources. A shift this dramatic in the economy would lead to outrage and possible changes in economic inflation. All in all, the Trans Alaska pipeline has provided for a great number of people and has not failed to let them down.