(Sung to the theme for “The Beverly Hillbillies”)
[Opening theme]
Come and listen to my story about a mine that wouldn’t die
Dug a weeping hole while the state stood idle by
Prince of Wales Island now leaks from its southeast side
And will do so forever, never to reside
Acid that is, orange Gatorade
On the promise of wealth, they gave them a permit
Just dump it into the forest to get rid all of it
But it freezes in Alaska, often to the bone
So let’s dump in the ocean inside a mixing zone
The sea, that is, salmon land, fishermen
Well the first thing they know is how to treat the water
But the state steps in and says ‘why bother’
Despite the promise you made, you are really quite poor
To protect your bottom line is where we close the door.
Salaries that is, dividends
The project shuts down when investors won’t bite
The permit says clean it up now and close it down tight
But the state folk say, hey watch doing there?
We will grant you extensions since we really don’t care.
Administrative, that is. Don’t tell anyone
Well, time goes by and the pipe is never built
Back into the forest without an ounce of guilt.
Because trees love acid more than do the fish
And they are far less likely to end up on your dish
Acid it is, marinade
So the Niblack lives like Schrodinger’s famous cat
And in the surrounding woods is where it dumps its scat
Potentially too profitable to deny it an approval
It is also too poor to require waste removal
DNR, our land protectors
[Closing Theme:]
It’s time to say goodbye to the mine and all its sin.
And we would like to thank you folks fer kindly droppin in.
You’re all invited back to complain to DNR
But unless you are a mine, you won’t get very far.
Politics, that is. Re$ources
Y’all come back now, y’hear?