The fourth man was a close friend and associate of the other three. He wrote checks. Big checks. What are our chances of knocking out this mine? he said. Fair, McKenzie said.

The four men exchanged glances. Only fair? the fourth man said.

McKenzie showed his palms. Global Harvest has got a head start. They‘ve done a good job with publicity and community outreach. We can‘t outspend them, I‘ll tell you that right now.

What can we do?

McKenzie leaned forward. We can out-shout them. We can plaster the airways with pictorial evidence of their industry‘s violations of the land, the water, and the air. We can fly up people from out of state who live near open-pit mines and put them in front of every social organization in Alaska. We can attack the executives of the Suulutaq and Global Harvest on a personal level.

A personal level?

McKenzie met the moneyman‘s eyes without flinching. They‘re human, they screw up. I‘ve had a private investigator gathering information on the top tier of Global Harvest management for the last year. There is plenty there to exploit. What does that do, besides embarrass them?

The trick is not to let up. You hit them with something, and then you barely let them get their feet under them before you hit them with something else. You don‘t feel sorry for them, you don‘t lose your nerve, and you don‘t let up. You remember that you‘re in this for the long haul, and you believe absolutely that failure is not an option.

And then what happens?

McKenzie shrugged. Some of them will be fired. Some of them will be forced to resign. Some will resign regardless because they know a sinking ship when their feet get wet.

And?

And the incredible disappearing power structure will disrupt management, which will put operations in flux. There will be pressure from shareholders and from the public to investigate, to clean house. I‘ve got a couple of tame reporters who will print anything I give them, and we‘re starting a couple of blogs, one under our own name and at least two that will be anonymous. He smiled. The Gaea blog will take the high road. The anonymous ones will throw the mud.

And then?

And then we turn the lawyers loose on them. Every application they file, every permit they apply for, the lawyers scrutinize every line and challenge every discrepancy in court. I did have access to most of the discovery data coming from the mine, but that person has now, ah, left their employ. I‘m working on developing a new source even as we speak, and I‘m confident we will regain that access before very long. That information will only better inform any future legal actions by our attorneys.

Sounds expensive.

It will be. But the mine has a high national profile. We have one commercial, running only in Alaska, and every time it runs it brings in an average of ten grand. Once we achieve some success, once our name is a solid brand, and once we begin running commercials nationally, we‘ll get even more.