Michael Butler’s Blog

i checked this out and it’s true. See http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/pascualama.asp
Please forward it to everyone.

Love & Light, Reute

VERY URGENT URGENT URGENT
Dear friends who care about our earth. Judge for yourself if you want to
take action. In the Valle de San Felix, the purest water in Chile runs from
2 rivers, fed by 2 glaciers. Water is a most precious resource, and wars
will be fought for it. Indigenous farmers use the water, there is no
unemployment, and they provide the second largest source of income for the
area.

Under the glaciers has been found a huge deposit of gold, silver and other
minerals. To get at these, it would be necessary to break, to destroy the
glaciers - something never conceived of in the history of the world - and to
make 2 huge holes, each as big as a whole mountain, one for extraction and
one for the mine’s rubbish tip. The project is called PASCUA LAMA. The
company is called Barrick Gold. The operation is planned by a multi-national
company, one of whose members is George Bush Senior. The Chilean Government
has approved the project to start this year, 2006.

The only reason it hasn’t started yet is because the farmers have got a
temporary stay of execution. If they destroy the glaciers, they will not
just
destroy the source of especially pure water, but they will permanently
contaminate the 2 rivers so they will never again be fit for human or animal
consumption because of the use of cyanide and sulphuric acid in the
extraction process. Every last gram of gold will go abroad to the
multinational company and not one will be left with the people whose land it
is. They will only be left with the poisoned water and the resulting
illnesses. The farmers have been fighting a long time for their land, but
have been forbidden to make a TV appeal by a ban from the Ministry of the
Interior. Their only hope now of putting brakes on this project is to get
help from international justice. The world must know what is happening in
Chile. The only place to start changing the world is from here. We ask you
to circulate this message amongst your friends in the following way.

Please copy this text, paste it into a new email adding your signature and
send it to everyone in your address book. Please, will the 100th person to
receive and sign the petition, send it to noapascualama@yahoo.ca  to be
forwarded to the Chilean Government. No to Pascua Lama Open-cast mine in the
Andean Cordillera on the Chilean-Argentine frontier. We ask the Chilean
Government not to authorize the Pascua Lama project to protect the whole of
3 glaciers, the purity of the water of the San Felix Valley and El Transito,
the quality of the agricultural land of the region of Atacama, the quality
of life of the Diaguita people and of the whole population of the region.

Signature, City, Country

1) Katharine Proudfoot, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
2) Laura Cole, London, UK
3) David Platt, London, UK
4) Diane Platt, Manchester, UK
5) Tanya Corker, Manchester, UK
6) Nicola Hargreaves, UK
7) Nicholas Jones, UK
Johann Don-Daniel, Germany
9) Ashley Berger, Germany
10) Sarah Downie, Leeds, UK
11) Paula Delahunty, Bingley, UK
12) John O’Driscoll, Bingley, Uk
13) Jordan-Lee Delahunty, Bingley, UK
14) Claire Mulvey, Bradford, UK
15) Marie Malcolm Bradford, UK
16) Ann Clowes, Halifax UK
17) Jayne McGee, Brighouse UK
18) Jason Barratt Oldham UK
19) Lindsay Torrance, Rochdale UK
20) Maggie Ford, Rochdale, U.K.
21) Barry Cook, Todmorden, U.K.
22) Shelley Burgoyne, Todmorden, U.K.
23) Lisa Stuart, Potes, Spain.
24) Michael Stuart, Potes, Spain.
25) Renee Engl, Byron Bay, Australia
26) Adrian Begg, Brunswick Heads, Australia
27) Riana Begg, Brunswick Heads, Australia
28) Oriel Paterson, Brunswick Heads, Australia
29) Alicia Paterson, Brisbane, Australia
30) Lyneve Robinson, Sydney, Australia
31) Jennifer Moalem, Sydney, Australia
32) Alexandra Pope, Sydney Australia
33) Shushann Movsessian, Sydney Australia
34) Amanda Frost, Sydney, Australia
35) Chris Liddell, Sydney, Australia
36) Jade Deegan, Sydney, Australia
37) Jo Satori, Sydney, Australia
38) Philip Higson, Sydney, Australia
39 Cheryl Kemp, Dorrigo, Australia
40) Chris Peacock, Maitland, Australia
41) Gloria Peacock, Maitland, Australia
42) Helen McCall, Duns Creek, Australia
43) Raquel Carvajal, Arncliffe, Australia
44) Rolando Ramos, Arncliffe, Australia
45) Martin Ramos, Paddington, Australia
46) Jade Carden, Leichhardt, Australia
47) Kira Carden, Leichhardt, Australia
48) Lilian Flores, Arncliffe, Australia
49) Juana Venegas, Enmore Australia
50) Rebeca Carmona, Illawarra, Australia
51) Osvaldo Alfaro, Illawarra, Australia
52) Gustavo Mártin Montenegro, Canberra, Australia
53) Rodrigo Andres Martin-Silva, Stanmore, Australia
54) Alison Evans, Hull, UK
55)Luci Rutledge, Leeds, UK
56) Beth Goodey, Bristol, UK
57)kate perryman, bristol, uk
58) David Seneviratne, Sheffield, UK
59) Jeff Seneviratne, Manchester, UK
60) Kath Fry, Manchester, UK
61) Brian Lovatt and Joanna Tait, County Durham, UK
62) Mary Wilkinson, County Durham, UK
63) Mary Waldmeyer, Hartlepool, UK
64) Marjorie Gaudie, Northallerton, UK
65) Barbara Hungin,  Egglescliffe, UK
66) Mary Walmsley, York UK
67) Gemma Simmonds, London, UK
68) Anne Garvey Cambridge UK
69) Muffi Hiss, Lima Peru
70) Reute Butler Austin, Texas
71) Michael Butler, Los Angeles, CA