Canadian mine pollution of U.S. watersheds a top priority for State Department negotiators at U.S.-Canada bilateral meetings

April 18, 2018
 
MEDIA ADVISORY

Canadian mine pollution of U.S. watersheds a top priority for State Department negotiators at U.S.-Canada bilateral meetings

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. State Department is poised to address, with Global Affairs Canada, years of British Columbia (B.C.) mines polluting American watersheds. Acid mine drainage and toxins from Canada in rivers that flow into Alaska, Montana, Idaho and Washington are damaging U.S. interests and are a significant part of the April 26, Washington, D.C. bilateral meetings — discussions of the most urgent diplomatic issues between the two countries.

A delegation of fishermen and advocates from Alaska and Montana will be in D.C. to support strong U.S. federal government actions to protect fish and jobs in these watersheds. They are available for in-person interviews and editorial board meetings from April 23-26.

BACKGROUND

Transboundary rivers in Alaska are home to some of the planet’s last remaining wild salmon strongholds and are the foundation of a multi-billion-dollar regional commercial fishing and tourism economy. In Montana, transboundary rivers form the headwaters of the vast Columbia River system, which is the economic lifeblood coursing through all of the contiguous Pacific Northwest states.

B.C., with the support of the Canadian federal government, is fast-tracking the exploration and approval of new mines along Alaska’s transboundary Taku, Stikine, and Unuk Rivers, as well as mineral exploration in Washington’s Skagit River watershed.

Upstream of Montana and Idaho, Canadian coal companies are pressing for new and expanded mines in the transboundary Elk-Kootenai River system. This is despite the fact that B.C.’s abandoned and operational mines there already have degraded water quality, damaged the region’s famed fishery, and limited the watershed’s potential to create U.S. jobs.

U.S. citizens point to the Kootenai and more than 60 years of acid mine drainage from Canada’s now defunct Tulsequah Chief Mine in Alaska’s Taku River watershed as prime examples of reckless B.C. mining practices. They also point to the 2014 failure of a tailings dam at Imperial Metals’ Mount Polley mine in B.C.’s Fraser River watershed, just north of the B.C.-Washington border, and the scathing independent report that found the dam operated for years with fatal design flaws.

B.C.’s own Auditor General has declared that the province fails to adequately monitor the mining industry, with “almost every one of our expectations for a robust compliance and enforcement program… not met.” These stark regulatory flaws place at risk Canada’s obligations under the U.S-Canada Boundary Waters Treaty, which states that waters flowing across the border shall not be polluted to the injury of health or property in the neighboring country.

Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) recently passed into law a requirement that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency negotiate a solution to the Montana transboundary pollution problem. Also, Tester, Gov. Steve Bullock (D-MT), Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Rep. Don Young (R-AK), Gov. Bill Walker (I-AK) and Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott (D-AK) have worked with the State Department to initiate a binational analysis of mining operations in transboundary waters, which will be discussed April 26.

Contacts:

Heather Hardcastle
Campaign Director                    
Salmon Beyond Borders
1 (907) 209-8486
heather@salmonstate.org

Michael Jamison
Crown of the Continent Senior Program Manager
National Parks Conservation Association
1 (406) 250-2540
mjamison@npca.org

Jill Weitz
Campaign Manager
Salmon Beyond Borders
1 (907) 957-9504
jill@salmonstate.org
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Dave Hadden
Executive Director
Headwaters Montana, Inc.
1 (406) 270-3184
dave_hadden@headwatersmontana.org

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