Commentary: Water in Redwood Country Worth More Than Nickel
From The Sacramento Bee, in a commentary by Tim Palmer:
“Far up on our North Coast, the Smith River flows as an incomparable gem of California, breathtakingly beautiful as it courses crystalline through the heart of redwood country. … A long history of stewardship by our state’s leadership, local citizens and dedicated activists has seen that the refuge of the Smith remains available for all to see and appreciate.
“While we’ve been investing tens of millions in protection measures for this one-of-a-kind corner of California, a multinational conglomerate based in London has applied for the rights, the water and the permits to explore the strip-mining of nickel, which accompanies the same bedrock that yields the rare but fragile plant life. The mine would be near Baldface Creek, just across the border in Oregon, on land beyond reach of the refuges created in California.”
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