Court Win for Bristol Bay!

GREAT NEWS FROM SI KAHN!

Si Kahn at WCUW, 2012. Photo by Jeff Boudreau

Yesterday, a judicial panel upheld a previous ruling supporting conservation of Bristol Bay and dismissing a lawsuit brought by the Pebble Partnership against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  http://bit.ly/1KBG2o0

As former Secretary of the Interior, Bruce Babbitt, puts it, 'the proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska is not a tough choice. The question of whether to build a massive copper mine in the heart of the planet’s largest wild sockeye salmon fishery has a simple answer: no. Pebble is the wrong mine in absolutely the wrong place.'

Scientists completed a thorough, three-year review of the mine and its impacts on the watershed finding that the mine would destroy pristine wetlands, that roads and pipelines would slice through salmon-spawning streams, and that toxic chemicals would likely damage Bristol Bay’s waters.  The nearly 40 million sockeye salmon that return each year to spawn in the Bristol Bay watershed support a $1.5 billion economy and 14,000 jobs. Alaska Native American communities have assessed the mine’s impacts on their livelihoods and way of life, and have reached the same conclusion. Commercial fishermen in Alaska say that “large-scale mineral development activities present serious risks for the Bristol Bay salmon fishery.” They are among the 70 percent of Alaskan voters who believe the Pebble Mine poses a threat to the state’s fishing industry. Nothing will change the fact that the Pebble Mine is the wrong mine in the wrong place. We will continue to keep you posted on any new developments.  Thank you for working with us to protect Bristol Bay! In Music & Solidarity, The Team at Musicians United To Protect Bristol Bay www.MusiciansUnited.info

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Don't Celebrate, Donate!

In his next-to-last telegram before being executed, Joe Hill wrote to Bill Haywood, "Goodbye, Bill, I die like a true blue rebel. Don't waste any time mourning. Organize!"

In a similar selfless manner, on the occasion of his 70th birthday, Si Kahn asks we celebrate by making a donation to his Musicians United Project to Protect Bristol Bay. 

Si Kahn on "In the Tradition with Jeff Boudreau" at community radio WCUW. Photo copyright J. Boudreau

I am doing everything I can to use my 70thbirthday to raise $70,000  for Musicians United To Protect Bristol Bay, so our team can concentrate for the next year on winning this battle.  PLEASE DONATE Over the weekend, I performed 3 house concerts; in Oakland, Berkeley and Takoma Park, Maryland  So far I have raised almost $12,000.  I am meeting with donors across the country.  I just spent 2 days in meetings all over Washington, D.C.  Please help me get to my goal so I can rest! Today is my 70th Birthday! PLEASE DONATE When I retired, I swore I would never fundraise again, but this fight to stop the Pebble Mine and protect Bristol Bay has become incredibly important to me.  And the way we have chosen to fight is proving so effective; by uniting musicians and their networks and writing and recording songs to tell the stories of the people; of the land; of the salmon; and of the corporate greed that threatens to destroy it all. PLEASE DONATE Awareness in “the lower 48” of the struggle over Bristol Bay, Alaska is critical, and Musicians United is playing a strong role in spreading that awareness, creating a buzz and building the movement.  This won’t just be an important victory; it will be an important activist model for the future.  If you have loved my music, my passion or my activism at some point in the last 70 years, please celebrate with a gift to Musicians United To Protect Bristol Bay today!  PLEASE DONATE If you have already donated, thank you from the bottom of my heart. In Music and Solidarity, Si Kahn