Kauai

Well, it's Sunday afternoon and -3 here at work. Wed it was -42 so things have warmed up quite at bit. However nothing like 2 weeks ago when I was on Kauai. I spent 11 days and temps were in the mid 70's to low 80's each day. I don't have a lot to say that I haven't already said on previous trips. We had a really good trip. Kauai is one of my very favorite places, even if the traffic does suck.

Lawai Valley from the first lookout.

I thought I'd just post a few of my favorite photos from this trip and let them say everything that needs to be said :-)






















The National Tropical Botanical Gardens Lawai

A view of the Sleeping Giant from Smith's Tropical Paradise.

Annini Beach looking north.

Dad napping on Anahola beach.

Chuck & Dorie at Ke'e Beach, erosion of the bluff exposes the roots of an Ironwood tree.

And a clear day view from the Kalalau look out.

If you want to see the rest of the photos I took, there is a link on the right side of this blog to my photo albums. Scroll down through all of them to 7 Kauai Trip Feb.

Mud Volcano Update - The Story Continues

Well the Mud Volcano in Indonesia continues to spew mud. The government is trying to stop it, but according to this latest round of articles, the 'expert's don't think they'll have much luck. Here is a picture from the Standard out of Hong Kong.
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=17&art_id=38680&sid=12312817&con_type=1

And here is one from MSNBC

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17243448/

They both have the same basic story....see below

Plans to plug a mud volcano that has displaced more than 10,000 people by dropping clusters of concrete balls into it is unlikely to stop the flow, a Japanese scientist said.

The mud eruption that has inundated entire villages since May followed an oil drilling accident in Sidoarjo on the eastern part of Java island.

Numerous efforts to cap the flow have failed and it has become a political and environmental issue, with the government and the drilling company under fire from critics for what they say were lax safety standards behind the accident.

In the latest effort to brake the flow of hot liquid mud, the government today will start to drop 1,500 concrete balls in clusters linked by metal chains and weighing around 400-500 kilograms each into the mouth of the volcano.

"It sounds very difficult right now to stop it," said James Mori, a scientist from the Disaster Prevention Research Institute at Kyoto University. The mud was coming from "a very large crater, so you need a very large structure that can plug that," Mori said Tuesday.

But Rudi Novrianto, a spokesman for the team tasked with stopping the mud, said the plan would proceed.

Two towers were being built to launch the 375 chains of balls into a 50-meter hole from where the mud had been gushing, with each chained cluster consisting of four balls, he said. "We are optimistic that the work will reduce the mud flow," Novrianto said.

Pebble Mine

Hmm, to mine or not to mine. This is a huge argument that I'm sure will continue for a LONG time.

http://www.adn.com/money/industries/mining/story/8658598p-8550623c.html

Pebble prospect ranks 2nd worldwide
UNPROVEN: A revised estimate of gold, copper deposits puts the value at more than $200 billion.
By ELIZABETH BLUEMINKAnchorage Daily News
Published: February 21, 2007 Last Modified: February 21, 2007 at 02:20 AM

The company exploring the controversial Pebble copper and gold prospect announced Tuesday its Southwest Alaska project now ranks as the second-largest mineral deposit of its kind in the world.

And it's still growing.

The new estimate released Tuesday nearly doubles the copper and gold estimated to lie on state leases within Pebble's eastern area, the richest part of the prospect.

The entire Pebble project, about 19 miles north of Iliamna, is now estimated to contain 82 million ounces of gold and 67 billion pounds of copper.

At today's prices, that's worth more than $200 billion.

Pebble has been a magnet for controversy -- and high-profile advertising and lobbying campaigns -- because the giant mine prospect lies amid streams that feed part of the huge Bristol Bay salmon run and a sport fishing mecca.

Tuesday's announcement is resulting in both fear and rejoicing throughout Alaska.

The president of a Bristol Bay village Native corporation said the doubling of Pebble's eastern deposit -- which lies near several salmon streams -- only makes him more worried.

"With its growth, it just gets scarier and scarier," said Bobby Andrew, president of Aleknagik Natives Limited. But, Tuesday, the executive director of Alaska's Associated General Contractors group called Pebble "the Prudhoe Bay of Alaska mining."

The potential mine could be the state's "next great economic development opportunity," claimed the association's Dick Cattanach, who also co-chairs a group called Truth About Pebble, which is advocating on behalf of the possible mine.

The new estimates of Pebble's mineral wealth resulted from analysis of last year's drilling.
Northern Dynasty Mines Ltd., the Canadian company exploring Pebble, said Alaskans should be cautious about interpreting the new estimates because they haven't been proven yet.
That will take more drilling, and the company still needs to do an economic-feasibility study, Northern Dynasty executives said Tuesday.

The new estimates of the Pebble deposit simply push back the point at which that study is done, said Northern Dynasty spokesman Sean Magee.

He explained that the company, based in Vancouver, British Columbia, will not start looking at the big economic picture at Pebble for at least a couple years.

State officials also stressed Tuesday that Pebble's mineral resources have not yet been proven to be financially worthwhile to develop.

"It gets more real in my mind when there are real dollars assigned to the cost of production," said Tom Crafford, the state's large mines permit coordinator for the Alaska Department of Natural Resources.

Among unknowns for any Pebble developer is where the mine will get the massive amounts of electricity needed to power a huge mine, and how the mined ore would get to the coast for export.
Pebble is arousing significant opposition in Alaska and throughout the United States' sportfishing industry because of its location in the headwaters of several rivers that feed Bristol Bay salmon fisheries -- one of the world's largest single sources of wild salmon.

Both pro- and anti-Pebble groups claim large and growing support bases in Alaska.
In the last two weeks, both sides have staked their positions on a pair of new bills in the state Legislature that would create stricter environmental protection for Bristol Bay's headwaters.
Northern Dynasty executives have decried the new bills. The company also says it won't allow "net loss" of salmon and that it hasn't yet determined the best way to develop Pebble.

The potential mine could involve a small open pit just to the west of an underground mine or the company could decide to develop only an underground mine in Pebble's eastern zone, said Magee, the company spokesman.

According to company's calculations, the only copper and gold project in the world bigger than Pebble is the Grasberg mine in Indonesia. Grasberg has 109 million ounces of gold and 80 billion pounds of copper.

Pebble's mineral resource is still open to expansion to the south and the north, and those areas will be explored this year, Magee said.

Redpolls at our birdfeeder

The Redpolls have been thick in Homer this winter. Here is a picture I took a couple of weeks ago. They're fun to watch at the bird feeder. The cat likes to watch them too :-)

Well, it's go home day. Blowing snow, about 30 mph of wind. It's supposed to pick up to 40 or 45 so I'm not sure if my plane is going to get in to take me home or not. It left Anchorage so I should know in 1.5 hours. I hope I get out of here on time so I don't miss my flight to Kauai tomorrow.