ANCHORAGE, Alaska--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 6, 2006--The Renewable Resources Coalition (RRC) and Trout Unlimited today jointly announced the results of an independent professional review that confirms the proposed Pebble Mine threatens wild salmon spawning and rearing habitat as well as surface and groundwater quality. The review, commissioned by RRC and authored by Coble Geophysical Services, concludes that assurances offered by Northern Dynasty Mines Inc. (NDM) in water rights applications resubmitted to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) last week, are "unreliable and based on incomplete data and potentially faulty assumptions."

"Northern Dynasty's water rights application for Upper Talarik Creek clearly reveals some of the risks the proposed Pebble Mine poses to Bristol Bay salmon habitat," said Hydrologist Geoff Coble, president of Coble Geophysical Services. "The mine described in NDM's current water rights application will destroy and damage Sockeye and Coho habitat and may cause contaminated water to flow from the South Fork Koktuli Watershed into the Upper Talarik Creek Watershed. The company's assurances that risks are minor are not founded on sufficient, sound science."

In his "Report on Northern Dynasty Water Rights Claims in the Pebble Mine Area," Coble analyzed NDM's water rights applications and came to the following summary findings:

-- The proposed diversion of Upper Talarik Creek will create a dry streambed, destroying Sockeye spawning and Coho rearing habitat and will harm Coho rearing habitat and the ecosystem far downstream.

-- NDM's plans for the Pebble Mine include the construction of several earthen dams (one of equal size to the Hoover Dam) to store tailings and contaminated water from the mine. The dams would be constructed in one of the world's most earthquake-prone areas.

-- NDM's water rights application asks to use an average of 18.7 million gallons of water per day from Upper Talarik Creek, or all of the water available from that diversion point.

-- Rock, silt and residue from the proposed Pebble Mine would be stored in huge, contaminated reservoirs with no long-range plan for cleanup and no understanding of how that water could spread to surface and groundwater resources in the area.

-- Contaminated water discharged to the Tailings Storage reservoir could flow underground from the South Fork Koktuli Watershed into the Upper Talarik Creek Watershed

-- NDM has not provided critical groundwater information it has to DNR.

-- In more than 70 places within its water rights applications, NDM flatly refuses to answer questions posed by DNR about possible impacts the mine might have on coastal areas downstream from its developments.

"RRC and Trout Unlimited commissioned the study to try to help Alaskans and others who are following the Pebble Mine issue to make sense of a 600+-page technical document that is difficult to analyze," said RRC President Richard Jameson. "We asked Coble for a very independent, professional assessment of the application without any regard to where we stand on the Pebble Mine development issue."

A copy of Coble's report can be found on the web at http://www.renewableresourcescoalition.org/hydrology.htm.

Consumers also can get a copy of Northern Dynasty's surface and groundwater rights applications on CD for $10 at the DNR Public Information Center, 550 W. 7th Avenue, 12th floor, Anchorage, Alaska.

The proposed Pebble Mine has drawn opposition from Alaska Native communities, commercial fishermen, sportfishing industry leaders and Alaskans from all walks of life.

The Renewable Resources Coalition (RRC) is a non-profit corporation formed to protect Alaska's renewable resources and the existing jobs, families and communities they support. The Coalition also seeks to promote awareness of public policy issues that affect the well-being of businesses and individuals that depend upon fish and game resources. Learn more at www.renewableresourcescoalition.org.

Copyright Business Wire 2006

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