Brian Lynch of the Salmon Beyond Borders campaign brings a group of Wrangellites up to speed on Canadian mining developments along transboundary river systems September 27, during an evening presentation at the Stikine Inn.
The earthen tailings dam and pond at the Red Chris mine in British Columbia, about 11 miles southeast from the village of Iskut. Construction of the mine took a year and a half and cost $662 million. At its last inspection by the Ministry of Energy and Mines on June 6, the inspector noted soft seepage coming from the southern collection pond's downstream side, though it was unclear whether the water was coming from a side hill or the drainage blanket.
Around 40 residents came together last week for dinner, drinks and a presentation about mining issues at the Stikine Inn.
Campaigners with advocacy group Salmon Beyond Borders hosted the event, one of a series being held last month around Southeast communities. Meeting in Wrangell on September 27, one of its purposes was to bring residents up to speed with recent developments in the mining industry in neighboring British Columbia. There are three rivers of primary interest, being the Stikine, Unuk and Taku. All three originate in Canada and terminate in Alaska, and their wider watersheds are the main source of the region's wild salmon, with the cultural and economic importance that represents.
Upstream, two of these rivers' watersheds overlap with an area in British Columbia touted as "the Golden Triangle," a resource-rich expanse that is the focus of significant mining development. Near the Unuk's headwaters, the largest of these projects will be the Kerr-Sulfurets-Mitchell, a proposed open-pit operation for gold, silver and copper.
Near the Iskut River, a tributary of the Stikine, the Red Chris copper and gold mine began operations in 2015. Operated by Imperial Metals, its opening was overshadowed by the failure of the Mount Polley mine's tailings dam in August 2014. Also operated in British Columbia by Imperial Metals, an engineering oversight in the dam's construction caused it to give way, releasing millions of cubic yards of water mixed with mining waste into nearby river system. Similarities in design between its tailings storage and that at Red Chris increased concerns about the project's potential impact.
"We don't know yet what the effects of that are going to be," said Brian Lynch, with Salmon Beyond Borders. A primary speaker at last week's presentation, Lynch is a retired Petersburg wildlife and fisheries biologist formerly employed with the Department of Fish and Game.
Though the release had been sizable, he noted the tailings material at Mount Polley had not been acid-generating. That found at Red Chris would be, which when coupled with its greater scale would make a similar breach far more impactful. Further mining operations like Galore Creek are currently in development, while mine sites at Schaft Creek and North Rok are being explored.
With concerns raised by a combination of fishermen and trades groups, Alaska Native organizations, municipal governments and environmental advocates, the incoming administration of Gov. Bill Walker in Alaska later that year saw signing of a memorandum of understanding between the state and British Columbia the following November, with a statement of cooperation committing the two to greater coordination adopted in 2016.
Salmon Beyond Borders and Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission, a coalition of regional tribal governments, have been among the groups pushing for a more potent arrangement.
"These were basically a good start, I'm not going to knock it," Lynch explained. He cited continued acid drainage problems of the Tulsequah Chief, a disused mine from the 1950s that has had long-term impacts on the Taku River system. Despite the agreements, he noted the province has still not taken steps to mitigate the site's tailings problem. "It's not really working."
The other intention of the community meetings was to prompt residents to sign an online petition Salmon Beyond Borders is putting together, urging the governments in America and Canada to create an International Joint Commission (IJC) to add oversight at the federal level to water quality in shared rivers. Such bodies have been bilaterally formed to resolve issues along Canadian borders with Montana, Idaho, the Great Lakes states and others. Despite its extensive border with the country and longstanding concerns about maintaining shared river conditions, no such body has been formed for Alaska.
"Since this effort has begun, more than 10,000 Alaskans have weighed in," said Melanie Brown, an organizer working for regional group Salmon State attached to the SBB campaign.
"This is an international issue, so it needs international solutions," said Frederick Otilius Olsen, Jr., president of the Organized Village of Kasaan and chairman of SEITC.
He likened the current statement of cooperation signed between B.C. and Alaska to a neighborhood watch, suggesting such nonbinding agreements only work when neighbors are getting along.
"There's a key component to every neighborhood watch, and it's called the police," Olsen said, which in this case would be the active enforcement mechanism that an IJC represents.
Brown pointed out it may be difficult to find federal support under the present presidential administration, though Olsen suggested that little progress was made under the previous one. A similar petition for an IJC pitched last summer to the Department of the Interior had garnered no response.
There are other means to refer the issue to an IJC, and last week the SEAITC, Southeast Alaska Conservation Council and other groups submitted a letter of petition to the Department of Commerce. The letter requests an investigation of six B.C. mines, citing threats to salmon stocks protected under the Fishermen's Protective Act under the 1971 Pelly Amendment.
If it deemed Canada to be violating commitments under the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty, for instance, Commerce could request trade sanctions until the problem is resolved. The department could also engage other federal agencies, calling for a referral of the matter to a bilaterally appointed IJC.
At the state level, Olsen explained their organizations wanted to see a more direct interest taken in the issue, which has largely been overseen by the lieutenant governor's office through the Transboundary Working Group.
"We are trying to get the governor to act," he said.
Representing 16 federally-recognized tribes, SEITC will continue working to mobilize interest in transboundary issues. One step has to set up local offices of the organization. Part of an $80,000 grant provided by the Leonardo DiCaprio foundation late last month has allowed SEITC to hire on a representative in Wrangell, with Tis Peterman coming on board last week.
Lynch emphasized his group's intent was not to stop all mining, but to ensure developments proceed in a responsible fashion, such as utilizing dry, stacked tailings storage rather than the wet storage methods used at Mount Polley and Red Chris.
"We're not anti-mine," he told last week's listeners. "But we want it done right."
The speaking tour was due to wrap up in Petersburg on Monday.
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