Don’t let development to destroy our web

To the editor:

“The earth does not belong to us; We belong to the earth. We did not weave the web of life; We are merely a strand in it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.”

—Duwamish Native, Chief Seattle

Alaskans, stand united now against greedy political forces pushing to destroy our environment in the name of nonrenewable resource “development.” How can we allow 10,000 acres of the Mat-Su Valley to be gutted out by multinational coal companies with essentially no benefit to Alaskans? How can we look away from the destruction of salmon, one of our most precious sustainable resources, by mining in Bristol Bay or Middle Creek?

How could we destroy the Susitna Valley by creating a mega-dam over one of the last great glacially fed wild rivers?

One way to help is to let your legislators know Governor Parnell’s proposals, House Bill 78 and Senate Bill 27, easing permitting of dredging and filling, are harmful to our state. And perhaps join one of the many local organizations, like Mat-Su Coalition and Castle Mountain Coalition, aligned with saving our strand of the web!

Lorraine Krueger

Eagle River