 Juneau, AK - The State of Alaska and the Province of British Columbia released yesterday their final report on the B.C.-Alaska Transboundary Rivers Monitoring Program, claiming “extraordinary partnership” across the border and conclusion of the program after river sampling for just two years. While data collection for water quality and fish health in the shared Taku, Stikine, and Unuk Rivers is important, this report is extremely limited in scope, and the state and province grossly misrepresent their collaboration with Tribes in Alaska, First Nations in B.C., and U.S. federal agencies in their press release about the data report.
Furthermore, Alaska and B.C.’s characterization of their monitoring efforts dramatically underestimates the current situation as they do not address the future risks associated with large-scale industrial mining in the B.C. headwaters of these crucial shared salmon rivers. Now, more than ever, we need an international framework with Tribal and Federal leadership and community engagement to determine the future of these iconic watersheds -- just as thousands of Alaskans, Tribes, commercial fishermen, municipalities, and the Alaska congressional delegation have requested for years. Rob Sanderson, Jr, Chair, Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission (SEITC): “Since the Dunleavey Administration came in, we have not been invited to any meetings. Everything fell off the table. This work is just getting started but they declare it ‘The End’.” Added Frederick Olsen, Jr, Executive Director, SEITC: “We found out about the report in the press. No data from Central Council Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska nor Ketchikan Indian Community, the two Alaska Tribes named in the report, was included. Where is the supposed collaboration with Tribes?” Jill Weitz, Director, Salmon Beyond Borders: “ The characterization of this report clearly shows that Alaska and B.C. agencies are not willing nor able to grapple with the huge challenges facing our shared rivers, yet they are trying to control the conversation to suggest “everything is fine” while undermining the concerns of Tribes, commercial fishermen, and thousands of Alaskans. The State of Alaska has yet again demonstrated why there is incredible need to create a framework that establishes binding and enforceable protections for these rivers at the federal level. ” Frances Leach, Executive Director, United Fishermen of Alaska: “Our salmon populations in the Taku, Stikine, and Unuk are already struggling. We have made every attempt possible to engage the State of Alaska on this issue, and the fact that they arrived at these premature conclusions is a disservice to Alaskans and the fishing communities of Southeast Alaska. We need our federal delegation to elevate this issue to the highest levels.” CONTACTS: Rob Sanderson Jr., haida2009@gmail.com, (907) 821-8885 Frederick Olsen Jr., fred@seitc.org, (907) 738-7319 Jill Weitz, jill@salmonstate.org, (907)-957-9504 Frances Leach, director@ufa-fish.org, (907)-209-8888
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December 22, 2020
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Alaskans thank the Alaska Congressional Delegation for bolstering State Department involvement on transboundary B.C.-Alaska rivers and ensuring funding to continue baseline monitoring JUNEAU, AK—Led by the Alaska Congressional Delegation, the U.S. Congress has approved more than $3.62 million dollars for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to continue baseline water quality monitoring at the international border for Southeast Alaska’s transboundary rivers, and to shore up U.S. Department of State involvement on the issue of British Columbia (B.C.) mining, and mining contamination, near rivers that flow into the United States. The funding was included as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, and approved by Congress on December 21, 2020. “To defend Alaskan interests and interests of the United States, there must be focused data collected for baseline water quality, fisheries, and reference conditions in the U.S. portions of transboundary rivers shared with B.C.,” said Salmon Beyond Borders Director Jill Weitz. “Historically, 80 percent of Southeast Alaska king salmon have come from the transboundary Taku, Stikine and Unuk Rivers — and yet, by this spring, all three rivers’ king salmon populations will likely be listed as stocks of concern, and B.C. is rushing through more than a dozen Pebble Mine-sized projects just over the Alaska border in those same river systems. We do not have any time to waste, and we are grateful for the Alaska Congressional Delegation’s continued involvement in and support of Southeast Alaska’s transboundary rivers, jobs, and ways of life.” In the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 is $3.12 million for the USGS to continue to expand its streamgage monitoring of transboundary watersheds and to work with the Environmental Protection Agency to evaluate and reduce pollution from B.C. mines in rivers that flow into the United States. The USGS has also been directed to continue evolving a formal partnership with Tribes and other federal agencies to develop a water quality strategy for the transboundary rivers. “We look forward to developing a true partnership between Tribes and the USGS,” said Rob Sanderson, Jr., Chair of the Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission (SEITC). “Besides putting up money, we need to ensure that long-term water quality monitoring includes Tribal involvement.” “This funding for data collection continues to validate the concerns of our tribes in Southeast Alaska, as well as our ongoing request for increased engagement between Canada, the United States and Indigenous governments,” shared Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska’s (Tlingit & Haida) Environmental Coordinator Raymond Paddock III. “We must work together to better understand and manage the proposed, existing and abandoned mines in our shared rivers.” Tlingit & Haida has called on the federal government for action under the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 and to meaningfully engage Southeast Alaska’s Tribes. In 2015, Tlingit & Haida began working to collect baseline water quality data, sediment sampling and water quality surveys on the Taku and Stikine Rivers. Tlingit & Haida has since expanded their scope to sampling on the Alsek River near Yakutat and the Chilkat and Klehini Rivers outside of Klukwan and Haines. “We are very excited about the future of this partnership,” said Chris Zimmerman, center director of the U.S. Geological Survey Alaska Science Center. “By working collaboratively, we will be able to better understand water quality in transboundary rivers to help resource managers and users make sound, science-based decisions.” The U.S. Department of State was also allocated $500,000 for the first time to specifically expand its participation in the matter of transboundary mines, which is vital to the federal involvement necessary for long-term, binding solutions to B.C. mining contamination in transboundary rivers. Specifically, in a request led by Congressman Don Young, the funding directs the U.S. Department of State to engage with relevant federal agencies to identify remaining gaps in the nonbinding Memoranda of Understanding between British Columbia and Alaska, Washington, Idaho, and Montana. “We are the gap,” said SEITC’s Executive Director Frederick Olsen, Jr. “We like that our federal government will allocate some funding towards the transboundary mining issue but looking for gaps in the MOUs may not be the best use of said funds. Sovereign Tribal governments must have meaningful inclusion in transboundary decisions, something that is not the case with the current nonbinding agreements.” Media Contacts:
Salmon Beyond Borders is a campaign driven by sport and commercial fishermen, community leaders, tourism and recreation business owners and concerned citizens, in collaboration with Tribes and First Nations. We are united across the Alaska/British Columbia border to defend and sustain our transboundary rivers, jobs and way of life. An international group of 22 science and policy experts have published a joint commentary in the prestigious journal Science, urging United States (U.S.) and Canadian leadership to immediately address damages and risks caused by Canadian mine pollution flowing downstream into U.S. states. At a workshop led by University of Montana and Alaska researchers, the group, which included representatives from U.S. Tribes and British Columbia (B.C.) First Nations, concluded that the threats and impacts of Canadian mines on shared rivers, fisheries, and communities is not adequately assessed by the B.C. government. The letter also calls on the U.S. and Canadian federal governments to invoke the U.S.-Canada Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 and address the fact that B.C. mine assessments are not adequately based on defensible science nor adequately protect U.S.-B.C. transboundary waters from mining pollution. See the full press release below.  January 22, 2020
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE JUNEAU—It was with interest that Salmon Beyond Borders learned Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy is in Vancouver for the Association for Mineral Exploration conference this week to tout Alaska mining, and that British Columbia’s transboundary mining will be a topic of discussion for Alaska Department of Fish and Game Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang. Lest the administration forget, Alaskans are demanding binding protections from Canada’s mines. “Alaska tribes, fishermen, municipalities, and thousands of residents have made clear that B.C.’s large-scale open pit mines near the Taku, Stikine/Iskut, and Unuk/Nass rivers, many of which have insanely massive tailings dams at their headwaters, pose direct downstream threats to our salmon, jobs, and way of life,” said Salmon Beyond Borders Director Jill Weitz. “As a new series of maps show, B.C.’s gold-rush era mining laws allow whole watersheds to be staked for exploitation without a consideration of cumulative effects. Unfortunately, what we see in the media and understand from British Columbia’s government is that the State of Alaska has been downplaying Alaskans’ and the Congressional Delegation’s concerns regarding the need for financial assurances and binding protections for the downstream communities that depend upon our billion dollar fisheries and visitor industries. Southeast Alaska has nothing to gain but everything to lose from these Canadian projects.” In a July 2019 op-ed, Commissioners Corri Feige (Alaska Department of Natural Resources), Doug Vincent-Lang (ADF&G) and Jason Brune (Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation), all of whom are also in Vancouver for the mining conference, confirmed that “Alaska remains committed to maintaining both high water quality standards and responsible mineral development in the transboundary waters.” In a May 6, 2019 letter, Governor Dunleavy confirmed that when it comes to transboundary engagement, “the Governor’s Office continues to take the lead on behalf of the State of Alaska.” “Southeast Alaska tribes, communities, and the Alaska delegation are all deeply concerned about impacts from B.C. mines and the province's track record, which is far from ‘responsible’” Weitz continued. “That lack of responsibility is clear from, in many instances, the lack of consent from First Nations; ongoing acid mine drainage from the abandoned Tulsequah Chief mine in the Taku River watershed, which B.C. has failed to solve for six decades; and the lack of accountability and oversight responsible for the Mount Polley tailings dam disaster — Canada’s worst environmental disaster — which flooded 6.6 billion gallons of mine waste into the Fraser River watershed and has still resulted in no charges against the mine’s owner, Imperial Metals. If Governor Dunleavy is truly at the helm, he must not follow B.C. and B.C. mining companies’ lead. Instead, the Governor and the Commissioners must amplify concerns from thousands of Alaskans, including our Congressional Delegation, commercial and sport fishing powerhouses, business owners, and Southeast tribes. For Southeast Alaska, Mount Polley is not an abstraction. It is a nightmare to be avoided.” Salmon Beyond Borders is a campaign driven by sport and commercial fishermen, community leaders, tourism and recreation business owners, and concerned citizens, in collaboration with Tribes and First Nations. We are united across the Alaska/British Columbia border to defend and sustain our transboundary rivers, jobs, and way of life. Contacts: Jill Weitz Director Salmon Beyond Borders 1 (907) 957-9504 jill@salmonstate.org  SENATORS FROM ALL 4 BORDER STATES PRESS BRITISH COLUMBIA TO CLEAN UP ITS MINING ACT IN TRANSBOUNDARY WATERS June 13, 2019 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Washington, D.C.—In an unprecedented and bipartisan effort, all eight U.S. senators from the four U.S. states bordering B.C. — Alaska, Montana, Washington and Idaho — are urging British Columbia Premier John Horgan to recognize that contamination from upstream B.C. mining in shared U.S./Canada rivers threatens American businesses, citizens and resources. The letter from Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Patty Murray (D-WA), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), James Risch (R-ID), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Jon Tester (D-MT), and Steve Daines (R-MT) elevates downstream U.S. concerns and highlights the need to improve B.C.’s mining sector safeguards. The letter also references the need for binding international protections to match B.C.’s mining laws with those in the U.S. For decades, B.C.’s large-scale, open-pit hard rock and coal mines have polluted rivers that flow from B.C., fouling U.S. waters with acid mine drainage and other contaminants. In the Elk/Kootenai watersheds, shared by Idaho, Montana and B.C., selenium from Teck Resources’ coal mines has killed and deformed fish and threatens native trout and Kootenai River white sturgeon. In Alaska, acid mine drainage from B.C.’s Tulsequah Chief mine into the transboundary Taku River, one of the region’s most productive for salmon, has continued for more than 60 years. Compounding threats, B.C. is rapidly approving new mines and expanding existing mines in the lands around all four surrounding states’ rivers. Most recently, British Columbia opened a permit process for a controversial new mine in the headwaters of the Skagit River, which flows into Washington state through North Cascades National Park, and into the Puget Sound. Current B.C. regulations do not require a cumulative analysis of mining impacts to these shared rivers, though the land around them, in at least one instance, is more than 50 percent covered by mining claims and leases. Furthermore, current regulations do not require consent from First Nations, private property owners, or allow for meaningful public input by U.S. stakeholders and tribal citizens. The senators’ letter is the latest action aimed at cleaning up B.C.’s mining operations in transboundary rivers. Such calls have been echoed by members of the U.S. House, the gubernatorial administrations of Washington, Montana and Alaska, tribes and First Nations on every border, state legislators, municipalities, fishermen, businesses, B.C. residents and tens of thousands of U.S. residents. Earlier this year, U.S. federal lawmakers allocated $1.8 million to monitor water quality in these four states’ transboundary rivers. Other recent actions include: • A human rights petition filed by 15 of Southeast Alaska's 19 federally recognized tribes; • Letters of complaint regarding exclusion from the decision-making process filed by indigenous leadership in Alaska, Washington, Idaho, Montana and B.C.; • Joint state-federal letters of concern and a formal complaint by U.S. federal water negotiators that their Canadian counterparts were refusing to acknowledge best available science in B.C.'s shared transboundary rivers; • The B.C./AK transboundary Stikine River recently was named to American Rivers' "most endangered" list due to transboundary mining (a distinction shared in recent years by the B.C./MT Kootenai River.) Even residents of B.C. mining towns have grown alarmed by the extent of air and water pollution, and in May, thirty British Columbian NGOs launched their own campaign to reform B.C.’s mining regulations. “We know we have a tremendous problem with contamination flowing from B.C.’s mining sector,” said Robyn Allan, former President and CEO of the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia. “B.C.’s own auditor general has chided the province for our lax rules and lack of enforcement. We absolutely need to ensure British Columbia’s taxpayers don’t end up paying for industry shortfalls and to bring British Columbia’s mining practices into the 21st century, both for Canadians and for the U.S. citizens living downstream.” In May, tribal leaders in Washington state expressed their “grave concerns”regarding B.C.’s plans to allow Imperial Metals to mine the headwaters of the Skagit River, the most important salmon river in Seattle’s Puget Sound area. They warned of “the potential for disastrous results,” and noted that just five years ago a mine failure by the same company released millions of gallons of toxic copper and gold tailings into B.C. lakes, drinking water and salmon runs. “The Skagit River is critical to the survival of salmon and orca,” said Scott Schuyler, policy expert for the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe. “It’s the lifeblood that connects the ocean with the mountain interior, and any thought of mining its headwaters only proves how out of touch British Columbia’s regulators are.” Similar concerns are echoed by members of Alaska’s commercial fishing industry, who are asking for federal intervention to hold B.C.’s mining regulators accountable. “This is a multi-state, international problem for which we need a multi-state, international solution,” said United Fishermen of Alaska Executive Director Frances Leach. “Right now B.C.’s massive open-pit mines and waste dumps put some of Alaska and B.C.’s most important salmon rivers, and the fishing jobs that rely on them, at risk. Alaska fishermen and the thousands of people across the world who enjoy wild salmon expect and deserve better from B.C. regulators.” Montana fishing guides agree. “The United States is not a settling pond for Teck Resources and the rest of Canada’s mining industry,” said former Kootenai River fishing guide Mike Rooney. “It’s our hope that Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and Premier John Horgan act to protect our businesses, resources and citizens by requesting intervention under the Boundary Waters Treaty. Anything less is not the solution this international problem deserves.” In Idaho, where millions of dollars have been spent recovering endangered sturgeon in transboundary rivers, the upstream threat is particularly alarming. “We commend our Congressional leaders for taking steps towards a long-term solution that will benefit our waterways on both sides of the border,” said Matthew Nykiel, conservation associate with the Idaho Conservation League. “A letter like this is a powerful message to British Columbia, and it shows that we are stronger together. Mining in the B.C. headwaters of transboundary rivers is a problem we all share, and it will require an international response to solve it." Salmon Beyond Borders Director Jill Weitz summed up what is at stake. "Today, every single border-state senator joined with commercial and sport fishermen, business owners, communities, tribes, and tens of thousands of Americans to highlight for Premier John Horgan the serious issue of B.C.'s transboundary mining contamination. "U.S. taxpayers have spent billions of dollars restoring these rivers and fisheries. It would be a tragedy to have that investment undone by B.C. mining contamination. And until B.C. enacts adequate financial assurance requirements, U.S. taxpayers will remain on the hook for all future damage to U.S. resources by B.C.'s mining sector. "It's our hope that Premier Horgan will prioritize wild salmon and the health and wealth of B.C. citizens, and protect taxpayers in both countries, by acting on the senators' requests for enforceable standards, water quality monitoring, and international safeguards for international rivers." Contacts Jill Weitz, Salmon Beyond Borders Director; jill@salmonstate.org; (907) 957-9504 Heather Hardcastle, Salmon Beyond Borders Advisor; heather@salmonstate.org; (907) 209-8486 Michael Jamison, NPCA Crown of the Continent Senior Program Manager;mjamison@npca.org; (406) 250-2540 Dave Hadden, Headwaters Montana Director; info@headwatersmontana.org; (406) 270-3184 JUNEAU — Salmon Beyond Borders thanks Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, Representative Don Young, Governor Bill Walker, and Lt. Governor Byron Mallott for their October 2, 2018 letter urging Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the U.S. Department of State to act to defend Alaskan interests, salmon, and salmon-producing rivers from under-regulated mining activity in transboundary British Columbian / Alaskan watersheds.
The request follows up on a November 13, 2017 letter from the lawmakers to then Secretary of State Rex Tillerson with similar asks. This letter, however, specifically requests the State Department deliver this “strong message” to Global Affairs Canada at the U.S.-Canada bilateral meetings later this month in Ottawa. The letter also reiterates “that the Department’s representatives impress upon their Canadian counterparts the critical need for binding protections, joint water quality monitoring, and financial assurances to protect Americans downstream of large-scale Canadian mines.” Salmon Beyond Borders Campaign Director Jill Weitz said she was thrilled the letter urges those actions, specifically. “The development of large-scale open-pit B.C. mines in watersheds that flow into Alaska is moving forward at a mind-blowing pace, while the cleanup of mines like the bankrupt Tulsequah Chief, which has been polluting the Taku River watershed for more than 60 years, is at a seemingly constant stand-still. With the uncertainties regarding Imperial Metals' financial standing, we need enforceable protections now, before the Red Chris mine goes bankrupt and begins polluting the Stikine River on a far greater scale,” she said. “This unity and leadership from Senator Murkowski, Senator Sullivan, Representative Young, Governor Walker, and Lt. Governor Mallott during otherwise politically divisive times is in direct response to their constituents. Fishermen, tribes, businesses, municipalities, and nearly 10,000 Alaskans have called for these measures to help ensure Alaskan economies and ways of life stay healthy for generations to come." Jill Weitz Campaign Director Salmon Beyond Borders 1 (907) 957-9504 jill@salmonstate.org August 21, 2018
PRESS RELEASE Joint state, congressional letter well-intentioned but misses the target Salmon Beyond Borders thanks Sen. Dan Sullivan and Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott for their July 31 letter to Global Affairs Canada and Environment and Climate Change Canada about transboundary mining in shared British Columbia and Alaska watersheds. However, the two seem to have lost sight of the heart of the issue: the need for binding international agreements and financial assurances to protect shared waters. Instead, the letter urges the continued pursuit of non-binding understandings that hinder real action and liability. Though each issue Sullivan and Mallott identify is significant, the letter omits any mention of financial assurance policies that will ensure mines can clean up disasters in shared watersheds, or that the mines have enough money set aside for reclamation and long-term maintenance. All of the transboundary mines under development in B.C. will have to be treated “in perpetuity” to remove heavy metals that will poison salmon — another way to say “forever.” As just two examples of B.C.’s lax requirements, Teck Resources has been required to post more money in financial assurances for its one Alaska mine than for all five of its B.C. coal mines that drain into Montana, despite the fact they are actively killing fish in downstream U.S. rivers — and Canadian taxpayers ended up paying for $40 million of the cleanup after Imperial Metals’ Mount Polley disaster in the Fraser River watershed, which flows into the ocean just north of the Washington state line. “Senator Sullivan and Lt. Governor Mallott have been strong for our transboundary rivers, but at the same time, they are letting the B.C. government set the terms, while Alaskans are the ones at risk of losing everything,” said Salmon Beyond Borders Campaign Director Jill Weitz. “While officials on both sides of the border dither, B.C. continues to permit and encourage transboundary mines that don’t follow the recommendations of their own auditor general or the independent review panel after the Mount Polley disaster. We don’t need more conversation about conversation. We need binding financial assurances and action under the Boundary Waters Treaty, and we need leaders like Sullivan and Mallott to keep rattling the cages.” Contact: Jill Weitz Campaign Director Salmon Beyond Borders 1 (907) 957-9504 jill@salmonstate.org July 11, 2018
PRESS STATEMENT U.S. IJC commissioners call out Canadian commissioners for repressing data on B.C. mine pollution of transboundary U.S. rivers In an unprecedented move, U.S. commissioners for the U.S.-Canada International Joint Commission (IJC) have accused their Canadian counterparts of repressing information on B.C. mine pollution — and resulting fish kills — in a transboundary U.S.-Canada watershed. The commissioners wrote in a letter to the Department of State’s Office of Canadian Affairs Director Cynthia Kierscht that the “province of British Columbia (B.C.) knows that mining impacts cannot be mitigated to satisfy Article IV of the Boundary Waters Treaty, and, for this reason, B.C. does not want the Parties to refer mining issues to the IJC for resolution.” The revelation makes clear what is at risk for Southeast Alaska if it remains unprotected from B.C. mines near the headwaters of transboundary rivers — and Alaska’s urgent need for binding enforceable protections and financial assurances, which only federal action can achieve. In the recent letter, dated June 20, U.S. Section Chair Lana Pollack and U.S. Section Commissioner Rich Moy said the Canadian commissioners refused to certify a report six years in the making on selenium pollution’s effect in the Elk-Kootenai watershed in Montana. Instead, Canadian commissioners chose to use a report from the 1980s, which does not include data on selenium. Teck Coal, operating in B.C. along the Montana border, has been fined for releasing selenium into the Elk-Kootenai watershed far beyond levels considered safe. Furthermore, B.C. authorized Teck Coal to shut down its water treatment plant because it was actually making the problem worse by creating and releasing a form of selenium that kills fish. Selenium pollution from Teck mines has killed a significant percentage of trout in the Elk River — up to 50 percent in some parts of the watershed, according to the letter — deformed them, and rendered them sterile. In spite of these violations, the B.C. government has recently issued expansion permits to Teck’s existing mines in the transboundary Elk-Kootenai watershed. “Ground contamination with selenium will only get worse… and will last for centuries in the Elk-Kootenai watershed,” the commissioners wrote. “There is a question as to whether the technology even exists to remove selenium from large volumes of flowing water and there is no viable solution to remove selenium from groundwater.” Due to the geology of Northwest B.C. and the quantity of hard rock B.C. proposes to mine along the Alaska border, all of the more than a dozen mines operating or proposed in the area, including Imperial Metals’ operating Red Chris mine and Seabridge Gold’s proposed KSM mine, will require selenium treatment not only during their operation, but forever after their closure. “Mining regulation in B.C. appears to be a case of the fox guarding the henhouse,” said Heather Hardcastle, Salmon Beyond Borders campaign advisor. “The U.S. IJC commissioners have highlighted how Canada and B.C. have abdicated their duties to the Boundary Waters Treaty. The U.S. must defend our resources before it’s too late. We look to Gov. Bill Walker, Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott, and the Alaska congressional delegation to continue pushing the U.S. Department of State to demand of Canada binding protections and financial assurances for U.S. interests in U.S.-B.C. watersheds.” “This kind of damage to fish and their habitat — death by a thousand cuts — is what we are fighting to prevent here in Southeast Alaska,” said Salmon Beyond Borders Campaign Director Jill Weitz. “We are so grateful to the U.S. commissioners for doing their job to defend U.S. interests and for drawing attention to this data, Canadian commissioners’ repression of it, and the B.C. government’s complicity in it all. Alaska needs federal intervention now, before we’re dealing with salmon deformities and infertility in the Taku, Stikine, and Unuk Rivers.” Contacts: Jill Weitz Campaign Director Salmon Beyond Borders 1 (907) 957-9504 jill@salmonstate.org Heather Hardcastle Campaign Advisor Salmon Beyond Borders 1 (907) 209-8486 heather@salmonstate.org June 25, 2018
PRESS STATEMENT Thank you, Senator Lisa Murkowski, for defending Alaska’s transboundary rivers, jobs, and way of life. JUNEAU— Salmon Beyond Borders thanks Senator Lisa Murkowski for her efforts to ensure Southeast Alaska’s transboundary rivers remain productive for salmon and Alaskans. Following the 2018 Omnibus Spending Bill, Congress, with Senator Murkowski’s leadership, directed the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to work with local tribes and agencies “to develop a water quality strategy for transboundary rivers impacted by mining activities” in the Alaska/British Columbia transboundary region. In a recent Interior-Environment committee bill, $1.5 million was appropriated to fund stream gauges that measure transboundary river water quality in U.S. states bordering British Columbia. That includes a gauge along the Unuk River near Ketchikan, a river to which Seabridge Gold’s massive proposed Kerr-Sulphurets-Mitchell (KSM) project poses threats. “This is a vote to support clean air, water, our lands, and our people,” Murkowski, chairwoman of the Interior-Environment Subcommittee, told E&E News. “Eighty percent of Southeast Alaska king salmon come from the transboundary Taku, Stikine, and Unuk rivers, yet B.C. is pushing 'go' on more than a dozen mines in these watersheds. It’s imperative we have good, reliable science documenting the quality of these rivers so that we can hold the Canadian government accountable for downstream impacts to U.S. resources,” said Salmon Beyond Borders Director Jill Weitz. “Senator Murkowski’s leadership is huge for this important work, and we look forward to the USGS collaborating with tribes and state agencies that are already on the ground.” The bill has passed through the Senate Appropriations Committee and now moves on to the next step in the process. Senator Murkowski's press statement can be found here. Contact: Jill Weitz Campaign Director Salmon Beyond Borders 1 (907) 957-9504 jill@salmonstate.org June 6, 2018
PRESS RELEASE At transboundary dialogue, officials talk process when Alaskans want action JUNEAU— Abandoned, operating and planned mines on transboundary rivers in British Columbia pose active threats to — or are actively polluting — waters shared by B.C. and Alaska. Meanwhile, State of Alaska and Province of B.C. officials talk “process” — a word that has so far meant anything but action. A June 1 “Transboundary Partners Dialogue” co-hosted by the State of Alaska, the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, and Sealaska, offered more of the same. “A process without a binding commitment to action is not much more than a wish,” said Salmon Beyond Borders campaign manager Jill Weitz. Needed actions include the prompt cleanup and closure of the Tulsequah Chief mine in the Taku River watershed, binding financial assurances to cover the costs of all mining impacts prior to mine operations, and the development of a robust, transparent environmental review process for mining projects in transboundary watersheds. “The lack of progress over many years, despite people’s stated good intentions, plainly shows we need a better framework for this issue,” said Heather Hardcastle, Salmon Beyond Borders campaign director. “These are international watersheds protected by international treaties and shared by many different jurisdictions — U.S., Canadian and indigenous. We need to do things differently in B.C.-Alaska watersheds.” Tulsequah Chief mine: Despite repeated promises from former Minister of Energy and Mines Bill Bennett, who visited Juneau in 2015, the Tulsequah Chief Mine, abandoned in 1957, is still releasing acid mine drainage into the Taku River. “It’s three years later. We hear from everybody that there’s concern, and nothing’s happening, and that’s a frustrating thing,” said Rep. Dan Ortiz, I-Ketchikan, at the dialogue. Karina Sangha, Senior First Nations Advisor at the B.C. Ministry of Energy, Mines, and Petroleum Resources, agreed that the province does have the ability to hold historical owner Teck Resources liable. There was no promise, however, that any owner, current or historical, would be. Financial assurances: One of the things Alaskans have always wanted from B.C. mines are binding financial assurances not only for reclamation, but for catastrophes like Mount Polley. Teck Resources has had to put up more money in financial assurances for its one Alaska mine, Red Dog, than for all 13 of its mines in British Columbia, according to “Canadian Mines on Transboundary Rivers: The Need for Financial Assurances,” a March 2017 report to the Alaska State Legislature from B.C. economist Robyn Allan. In a separate report, she found B.C. taxpayers are on the hook for $1.5 billion in unfunded mine disaster and reclamation cleanup. B.C. and Alaska officials will be meeting in August to talk more about financial assurances. B.C.’s environmental assessment process: B.C. officials have repeatedly said their environmental assessment process was “under review.” At the meeting, Alaskans replied that transboundary watersheds require more transparency, responsiveness to comments, and Alaskan input — especially because almost all of planned mines in transboundary watersheds require toxic tailings storage and water treatment in perpetuity. Those mines should undergo the highest level of review. Selenium pollution: Selenium causes death, deformities and infertility in fish, and no one knows how to treat it at the level necessary for large mines. The Elk-Kootenai river system shared by B.C. and Montana is already seeing fish deformities from Teck Resources’ coal mines in B.C., which is releasing selenium at more than 50 times the level that is safe for aquatic life. “Ultimately, this is our fear. This is our concern,” Ortiz told B.C. officials. “I’m talking about long after you and I are gone. Nobody wants to see that happen.” Inter-state cooperation: Ortiz, along with nine other Alaska state legislators, recently sent a letter to Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott and Gov. Bill Walker requesting that Alaska work with Montana, Idaho, and Washington governments. Those states are also dealing with downstream pollution from B.C. mines. At the dialogue, Mallott told Ortiz that “we’ll work with anyone.” Contacts: Heather Hardcastle Campaign Director Salmon Beyond Borders 1 (907) 209-8486 heather@salmonstate.org Jill Weitz Campaign Manager Salmon Beyond Borders 1 (907) 957-9504 jill@salmonstate.org |
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