It may not be among the sexiest causes in the world, but it might be crucial to anyone who makes their living near the Stikine River.
The Southeast Alaska Watershed Coalition went before the US Forest Service’s Resource Advisory Committee (RAC) seeking funding for a “Baseline Water Quality Monitoring” project along the Stikine River. Based only on preliminary discussion at the meeting, it appeared to be a non-starter for the RAC.
However, the coalition’s project could have serious ramifications for calculating potential harm caused by a mining boom over the border in British Columbia.
Three potential open-pit mines are currently proposed for tributaries of the Stikine River: the Galore Creek, Schaft Creek and Red Chris mines are all located on or near creeks which feed into the Stikine. Infrastructure construction and enthusiasm for the mines have picked up steam with the construction of a large power line into the area near the mines, groups familiar with the issue have said. The potential for open pit mining in the Stikine watershed has drawn a coalition of Southeast interests in – if not quite opposition – concern over the effects the mine might have on fisheries, wildlife, and the environment. The Alaska congressional delegation recently wrote a joint letter addressed to Secretary of State John Kerry, urging him to raise the issue with the Canadian government.
“To ensure the valuable marine resources that contribute so much to the economy and culture of Southeast Alaska are protected, we request that you and other officials from the Department of State raise this issue in appropriate bilateral meetings with your Canadian counterparts,” the April 2 letter reads in part. “Doing so will help us gain a better understanding of the new development taking place across our border, ensure that appropriate environmental safeguards are in place, and keep Alaska waters pristine and productive.”
Among the groups opposing the mines, the Coalition asked for about $30,000 to take samples of water in provided kits, and then test those water samples for a variety of potential contaminants. Samples would be taken twice annually.
“Right now, there’s a few mining developments that are going through the permitting process and slated to go in the Stikine watershed on the Canadian side of the border,” according to Angie Eldred, a representative from the coalition who spoke in front of the RAC.
The mines themselves represent not only economic development potential, but also the potential for environmental damage, Eldred said.
“They’re pretty large-scale mining, and there’s a lot of potential for damage to water quality on our side of the border,” she said. “We don’t get a lot of say in what they do, because it’s not on our land, so it kind of puts us in a difficult position to look out for our resources on our side of the river.”
The water testing, which would examine river water for aluminum, calcium, magnesium, argon, bromine, cadmium, copper, iron, lead, selenium, silver, zinc and mercury levels, in addition to suspended solids and alkalinity, could be compared to the post mine levels to ensure that the mines don’t affect fisheries worth almost $1 billion in jobs and wages, Eldred said.
“If in the future these mines come to fruition and there is impact to water quality or habitat and its impacting fisheries or wildlife or some other resource on the river, we need to have these data in place so that we have a defensible leg to stand on,” she said. “If we don’t have any concrete data saying ‘Yep, this is what the conditions were before the mines went in,’ we can’t defend ourselves, we can’t say ‘here’s what this was like.’ They’ll just come back and say ‘Prove it.’”
“That’s kind of what we’re looking for with this project, is getting this data so we know what we have now, we know what the pristine conditions look like as far as water chemistry, and all of that information,” she added. “Whoever’s working on resource management on the river would have this data down the road.”
More information is available at http://www.alaskawatershed
coalition.org.
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