Despoiling Alaska

Re “Alaska’s fork in the river,” Sept. 1

I am dismayed to read the plans of the mining companies to decimate a prime piece of America. I have flown over that area in Alaska and fished it. All the gold and riches in the world are not worth the devastation that mining on the scale proposed would cause there.

The existing natural beauty and balance of resources can benefit everyone. The mining will create some jobs and make a few people very rich, but at what cost? The scale and far-reaching effects of the mining will potentially destroy a large part of one of the few wild places left in the U.S., endanger several sustainable industries and negatively change the lives of many indigenous Americans.

John Hocking

Alta Loma

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It is obvious that the environmental impact of this massive project will be considerable. What will be the additional impact of moving 12 billion tons of earth? The atmospheric pollution will be significant, as will the increased oil requirements on this country’s dependency on imported oil. There also will be the ongoing energy requirements for the mining operations. I vote no.

Stan Hunter

Banning

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A new, shiny apple hangs from that tree in the garden -- and this time the serpent is named “Greed.” There is no justification for ruining one of the most significant salmon runs in the world for temporary, temporal riches. What is the worth of a million years of wild sockeye salmon?

This insanity must be stopped.

Paul R. Cooley

Culver City