Open Pit Visible from the Moon
«Adam Sowards picks up where John McPhee left off in Encounters with the Archdruid.An Open Pit Visible from the Moon offers an equally engaging and carefully researched account of the Kennecott Copper mining controversy in the Glacier Peak Wilderness. Rather than simplifying the story as a victory of environmental interests over corporate profits, Sowards explains the disparate and sometimes surprising factors that kept Kennecott Copper from mining its claim. This is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding how wilderness politics and protection work."" - James R. Skillen, author of Federal Ecosystem Management: Its Rise, Fall, and Afterlife»
Situated among the North Cascade Mountains of Washington State, in the Glacier Peak Wilderness Area, Miners Ridge contains vast quantities of copper. Kennecott Copper Corporation's plan to develop an open-pit mine there was, when announced in 1966, the first test of the mining provision of the Wilderness Act passed by Congress in 1964. Les mer
An Open Pit Visible from the Moon tells the story of this historic struggle to define the contours of the Wilderness Act - its possibilities and limits. Combining rigorous analysis and deft storytelling, Adam M. Sowards re-creates the contest between Kennecott and its shareholders on one hand and activists on the other, intent on maintaining wilderness as a place immune to the calculus of profit. A host of actors cross these pages - from cabinet secretaries and a Supreme Court justice to local doctors and college students - all contributing to a drama that made Miners Ridge a cause celebre for the nation's wilderness movement. As locals testified at public hearings and writers penned profiles in the nation's magazines and newspapers, the volatile political economy of copper proved equally influential in frustrating Kennecott's plans.
No law or court ruling could keep Kennecott from mining copper, but the pit was never dug. Identifying the contingent factors and forces that converged and coalesced in this case, Sowards's narrative recalls a critical moment in the struggle over the nation's wild places, even as it puts the unpredictability of history on full display.
Detaljer
- Forlag
- University of Oklahoma Press
- Innbinding
- Innbundet
- Språk
- Engelsk
- ISBN
- 9780806165011
- Utgivelsesår
- 2020
- Format
- 23 x 15 cm
Anmeldelser
«Adam Sowards picks up where John McPhee left off in Encounters with the Archdruid.An Open Pit Visible from the Moon offers an equally engaging and carefully researched account of the Kennecott Copper mining controversy in the Glacier Peak Wilderness. Rather than simplifying the story as a victory of environmental interests over corporate profits, Sowards explains the disparate and sometimes surprising factors that kept Kennecott Copper from mining its claim. This is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding how wilderness politics and protection work."" - James R. Skillen, author of Federal Ecosystem Management: Its Rise, Fall, and Afterlife»