ALASKANS URGE VISITING CANADIAN AND U.S. OFFICIALS TO UPHOLD TREATY IN FACE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA MINE THREATS

Contacts:
Heather Hardcastle, Salmon Beyond Borders and Taku River Reds, 907-209-8486, salmongal@mac.com
Dale Kelley, Alaska Trollers Association, 907-723-8765, ata@gci.net
Carrie James, Co-chair, United Tribal Transboundary Mining Work Group and Treasurer, Ketchikan Indian Community, cjames@kictribe.org, 907-821-8167
Kevin Maier, Bear Creek Outfitters, 907-957-0357, kevinkmaier@gmail.com
Chris Zimmer, Rivers Without Borders, 907-586-2166, zimmer@riverswithoutborders.org
 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
ALASKANS URGE VISITING CANADIAN AND U.S. OFFICIALS TO UPHOLD TREATY IN FACE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA MINE THREATS
 
As Secretary of State John Kerry and B.C. Mines Minister visit Alaska, fishermen, tribes, and others say international borders require international governance
 
JUNEAU, Alaska – Alaskans will meet with British Columbia’s Minister of Energy and Mines, Bill Bennett, when he visits Juneau next week and will ask him to support an international review of mine developments in northwest B.C., upstream from Southeast Alaska along the Taku, Stikine and Unuk transboundary rivers. Alaskans believe an international review is the best way to develop specific, binding commitments to ensure clean water, salmon, jobs and traditional and customary practices are not harmed by B.C. mines and that adequate financial assurances are in place up front to cover long-term monitoring and compensation for damages. Alaskans are calling on Sec. Kerry to take action under the Boundary Waters Treaty, a bilateral treaty between the United States and Canada that bars either country from polluting shared waters, and convene the international review.

Thousands of Alaskans have requested that the International Joint Commission, created under the Boundary Waters Treaty, examine potential risks to Alaska’s clean water, fish and wildlife, fishing, tourism, and indigenous communities posed by a multitude of mine developments in B.C. To date, Minister Bennett has largely dismissed Alaska’s concerns. In a recent news article, Bennett said, “We are far more careful in British Columbia than it would seem to many people in Southeast Alaska.” He continued: “People of Southeast Alaska don’t know a lot about how we do business in B.C.”
 
Bennett has so far offered what is essentially a “trust us--we’ll take care of it” attitude. This is unacceptable to the many Alaskans who rely on the Taku, Stikine and Unuk Rivers for their livelihoods.
 
“It’s great that Minister Bennett is coming to Southeast Alaska, but I want him to recognize this is an international problem requiring an international solution under the Boundary Waters Treaty. Alaska is not merely another participant in B.C.’s domestic permitting process, but is instead the downstream sovereign state entitled to protections under the Treaty. We don’t need more information and talk. We need enforceable measures and financial guarantees to protect our interests,” said Heather Hardcastle, a commercial fisherman from Juneau who coordinates Salmon Beyond Borders, a campaign driven by a large and diverse group of Americans and Canadians.
 
Hardcastle noted Bennett’s recent statements to the news media, including one comment where he said Alaskans would be less concerned if they had more “factual information” about B.C. mining regulations. 
 
“We know very well how B.C. operates. Look at the Mount Polley mine catastrophe last year. Experts who investigated the Mount Polley disaster recommended that B.C. stop permitting mines with wet tailings impoundments. Yet, Minister Bennett is disregarding those recommendations and is allowing mines like Red Chris and KSM to go forward with a risky waste containment system similar to Mount Polley’s,” said Hardcastle. “The B.C. permitting process just isn’t designed to protect Alaska interests.”  
 
Bennett is expected to arrive in Juneau on Monday, August 24, and spend four days in Alaska’s capital city, meeting with Alaska state officials, tribal leaders, fishermen and others.
 
“Minister Bennett doesn’t give us much credit for understanding the issues. It is he who needs to grasp just how concerned Alaskans and others are with the pace and size of large-scale mining development in the headwaters of some of our most productive rivers. Bennett’s public comments thus far have been dismissive and fail to give fishermen confidence that he intends to address those concerns. Wild salmon are a matter of global concern. The State of Alaska must work directly with the State Department to develop meaningful agreements and enforce international law,” said Dale Kelley, executive director of Alaska Trollers Association, a trade organization representing hundreds of commercial salmon trollers.
 
Following Bennett’s visit to Southeast Alaska, Secretary of State John Kerry is coming to Alaska later this month to attend a climate change summit in Anchorage on Aug. 31.
 
“This is a great opportunity for Secretary Kerry to really see how our lives revolve around clean water and salmon. Kerry must take a hard look at what’s happening along Alaska’s border, and I hope he’ll take the time to visit Southeast Alaska. We’ve been here since time immemorial and these fast-paced developments are threatening our customary and traditional practices and communities and we have had no real say in their development,” said Carrie James, co-chair of the United Tribal Transboundary Mining Work Group, and treasurer of Ketchikan Indian Community.
 
The Walker administration and Bennett have recently made public remarks about trying to reach a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to resolve transboundary mine concerns.
 
“I urge Gov. Walker and Lt. Gov. Mallott to firmly convey to Sec. Kerry that the Boundary Waters Treaty must be enforced and the International Joint Commission must be engaged. We’re skeptical that an MOU will be strong enough to protect Alaska’s interests, especially given what we know about the agreements B.C. has made with Montana, Idaho and Washington,” said Kevin Maier, a fly fishing guide with Juneau-based Bear Creek Outfitters. “We don’t need an agreement about more conversations, while B.C. continues to approve and rush these mines into production at breakneck speed. We need specific financial assurances that mines will be monitored over the long term, that accidents will be cleaned up, and that any damage to Alaska will be paid for. And we need a meaningful seat at the table, not participation in a B.C. permitting process that has largely ignored our concerns.” 
 
B.C. is apparently unwilling to grant Alaska the same protections that the province is demanding from Alberta, which wants to build the Northern Gateway pipeline to the B.C. port of Kitimat.  The B.C. government has demanded a number of very stringent conditions including extensive public consultation, “world-leading” oil spill protections, increased pipeline inspections, a $1 billion bond for oil companies, and no pipeline construction until these conditions are met.
 
“At a bare minimum, B.C. should be willing to grant us the same protections and rights it is asking of Alberta. Accepting anything less than a binding international agreement that includes a mechanism that guarantees financial compensation and security for Alaskans would be too little, too soon,” said Chris Zimmer, Alaska director of Rivers Without Borders. 

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