[Note: I intend to resume fly fishing history posts sometime soon, I have some great items on the docket, including some interviews with anglers past. However, this post makes an unexpected 3rd in a 3 part series on commentary on the state of resource politics in Alaska.]
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If you pay attention to the extreme minutea then you might have picked up on the reality that the Alaska Department of Natural Resources just changed their mission statement. There is only one word missing, but it seems a significant move for sure.
Old Mission Statement:
To develop, conserve, and enhance natural resources for present and future Alaskans.
New Mission Statement:
To responsibly develop Alaska’s resources by making them available for maximum use and benefit consistent with the public interest.
It seems they have forgotten that Article 8, AK Constitution insists upon one point that was left out of the new mission statement -"conservation of all natural resources belonging to the State, including land and waters, for the maximum benefit of its people."
But hey,who needs conservation for the people of the state, for the future of the state, when you can pebble, I mean peddle, off the recources at a rapid rate today?
So, the question remains: Whose interest does DNR have at heart? Whose interests will they keep in mind when they look to evaluate all those permits for that project called the Pebble Mine? Well, clearly they'll use this new mission as the bar of evaluation and focus on developing those resources. . .For whose benefit, I am not entirely sure.
For another take on these same issues dealt with in the past few posts, Shannyn Moore has an Op-Ed on the issue in today's Anchorage paper.
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