MEDIA RELEASE Native American Fish & Wildlife Society Announces Approved Resolution Supporting the International Joint Commission Involvement in Southeast Alaska/British Columbia Transboundary Region

Approved Resolution Calls for U.S. State Department and Canadian Federal Government to Refer to International Joint Commission’s Review of Mining Impacts 

DENVER, CO, JUNE 29, 2015 – A resolution recently approved by the Native American Fish & Wildlife Society (NAFWS) supports the International Joint Commission (IJC) Involvement in the Southeast Alaska/British Columbia Transboundary Region, where water quality, habitat, and potentially salmon will be majorly impacted by proposed large-scale mining projects affecting transboundary rivers in British Columbia (B.C.) and Southeast Alaska. The mining will effect three watersheds of Taku, Stikine, and Unuk which flow from British Columbia and into Southeast Alaska, and together span at least 30,000 square miles. Several Native Alaskan Tribes and their cultural practices and foods will be effected.

"As indigenous people we all have a stake when it comes to threats to our way of life, our customs, traditions, and traditional foods,” said John Morris, a Council Member with the Douglas Indian Association, a federally recognized Tribe located in Juneau, AK and a member Tribe of the United Tribal Transboundary Mining Work Group.

“In Southeast Alaska we face very real threats from these large mining developments from British Columbia and our Tribes are located downstream from six of the mines in B.C., which have the potential to contaminate our vital fishing grounds and the places we have hunted and gathered for thousands of years. We have not been consulted about what is going on in these Transboundary watersheds that are essential to our survival as Alaska Native Tribal citizens,” said Morris.

“The adoption of our resolution by the Native American Fish and Wildlife Society, the National Congress of American Indians, and the Alaska Federation of Natives is heartening in this fight,” he said.

“We need the U.S. State Department to listen and to act on our concerns and we will not be ignored, nor will we stand by and allow our waters to be polluted.”

As a national Native American organization working to assist Tribes in the U.S. and Alaska, the NAFWS mission is to assist Native American and Alaska Native Tribes with conserving, protecting, and enhancing their fish and wildlife resources. 

The NAFWS is a non-profit organization with a Tribal membership of 224 Native American Tribes and has been in existence since 1982. It is based in Colorado and seven regions of the U.S. tribal nations are represented on its board of directors. 

The Resolution was adopted at the annual NAFWS National Conference that was held in Juneau, AK on May 20, 2015. A vote by the NAFWS membership was 48 approval for, and no oppositions, and no abstentions. 

For more information, contact: Karen Lynch, NAFWS, klynch@nafws.org, 303-466-1725, ext. 5

Alaskan Concerns Escalate As British Columbia Government Gives Red Chris Mine Final Operating Permit

JUNEAU, ALASKA - Last week's ill-conceived decision by the British Columbia government to issue a final operating permit for Red Chris mine disregards concerns from Alaskans whose clean water, fisheries, tourism, jobs, and traditional ways of life are threatened. Red Chris is owned by Imperial Metals, the same company responsible for the Mount Polley mine disaster last summer, one of Canada’s worst environmental catastrophes. Red Chris is one of several B.C. mines proposed for the transboundary region straddling Alaska that have raised the public’s ire.
 
B.C. issuing Red Chris its final permits on June 12 is the latest sign Canada is ignoring its obligations under the Boundary Waters Treaty, an international treaty that guards against water pollution by either the U.S. or Canada. Under the treaty, the United States, including Alaska, should play an equal role in evaluating the full range of potential impacts of B.C. mine projects, like Red Chris, in watersheds shared by both countries. B.C. should also agree to assume an equal share of the risks posed by transboundary mines through a legally-binding mechanism that ensures Alaska is appropriately compensated for impacts related to pollution reaching Alaskan waters.

Upstream from the Southeast Alaska communities of Wrangell and nearby Petersburg, in the headwaters of the transboundary Stikine River, Red Chris has the potential to unleash acid mine drainage, heavy metals and other pollutants that will drain into Southeast Alaska’s pristine waters. These waters produce more salmon than any other region of the world, as well as support multi-billion dollar fishing and tourism industries, and indigenous cultures of the region.
 
According to Salmon Beyond Borders and the United Tribal Transboundary Mining Work Group, it is reckless for B.C. to permit a new mine with the same type of tailings technology that failed so catastrophically at Mount Polley in August 2014. Red Chris’ permits make clear that B.C. is disregarding the recommendations from the independent panel review of the Mount Polley failure. One of the panel’s top recommendations was that new mines stop using tailings dams and move to more modern waste treatment methods like dry-stacking. Canada’s full-speed-ahead approach to transboundary mining is why Alaskans need prompt, swift and strong action from the U.S. State Department to ensure Canada honors its obligations under theBoundary Waters Treaty  and doesn’t harm Alaska’s water, fisheries, culture and jobs. 

"It's astonishing to me how B.C. is dead set on getting these transboundary mines operating at all costs--even when their own experts say that current mining technology will fail. As I've said before, the B.C. government is ignoring the rights and concerns of those of us who live in Southeast Alaska. This is not okay and we will continue to fight," says Rob Sanderson Jr., Co-chair of the United Tribal Transboundary Mining Work Group.

Alaskans, including Alaska’s congressional delegation, have been calling for U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to activate theInternational Joint Commission (IJC) to review the multitude of mine developments in the transboundary region and how they could impact Alaska’s downstream waters. Today’s news that Red Chris is open for business should be a loud wake-up call for Sec. Kerry that the time to get the IJC involved is now.


For more information or comments please contact: 
Rob Sanders Jr, Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, United Tribal Transboundary Mining Work Group, Ketchikan Tlingit and Haida Community Council, haida2009@gmail.com, (907) 821-8885 
Carrie James, Ketchikan Indian Community, United Tribal Transboundary Mining Work Group, cjames@kictribe.org, 
(907) 821-8167
Heather Hardcastle, Salmon Beyond Borders, salmongal@mac.com, (907) 209-8486

Salmon Beyond Borders is a campaign driven by Alaska tribes, commercial and sport fishermen, tourism businesses, local governments, elected leaders, and conservation groups united to protect our shared rivers and salmon from upstream development in British Columbia.  

The United Tribal Transboundary Mining Work Group is a group of 13 tribes working to protect Southeast Alaska waters from Canadian mine developments.