Letters to the Editor

B.C. mining industry meets highest standards

State Rep. Dan Ortiz's letter to the editor in the Sept. 2 Sentinel about British Columbia's mining regulations is misleading and largely inaccurate.

Continuous improvement is foundational to B.C.'s mining sector - in environmental management, community engagement, operational efficiency, innovation and more. The fact is B.C.'s mining industry meets some of the highest regulatory standards in the world for environmental assessment, operational permitting, compliance and enforcement, tailings, and post-closure monitoring and reclamation.

In recent years, the British Columbia government has made substantial changes to the laws governing mining, including a new Mines Act, a revised Health, Safety and Reclamation Code, new water quality guidelines, and ongoing monitoring to protect downstream communities and critical salmon habitat.

Recent results of the B.C.-Alaska Transboundary Group on Monitoring found the "overall aquatic conditions in the Taku, Stikine and Unuk transboundary rivers currently support and maintain aquatic life."

B.C.'s independent chief mines auditor recently completed a comparison of B.C.'s regulations with those of other jurisdictions - including Alaska - and found that B.C.'s tailings storage facilities' regulatory framework is among the best in the world.

Our mines play an important role in the world's efforts to reduce carbon emissions. Many of the metals and minerals produced by B.C.'s low-greenhouse-gas-intensity mines (due to our use of hydroelectricity) are essential for renewable energy projects, electric vehicles and clean technology.

On June 30, I wrote to Alaska's legislators - including Rep. Ortiz - and would be pleased to discuss B.C.'s world-class mining industry.

Michael Goehring

President and CEO

of the Mining Association of British Columbia

Vancouver, B.C.

Stokes family

thanks community

Wilma Stokes' family would like to thank the community for their kind condolences.

Thank you to pastor Kem Haggard and the Harbor Light Assembly of God family; Katy Shilts and her father for reading the Lord's Prayer in Haida; Denny and Janet Strom; Don McConachie; KSTK staff Cindy Sweat; Wrangell Sentinel staff Amber Armstrong and Larry Persily; city of Wrangell cemetery workers; Hope Church of God; Jackie Dozier and Doug Schwartz; Dr. Lynn Prysunka and Wrangell hospital nursing staff; and Wrangell long-term care and CNAs.

Thank you to Wilma's friends and family for all the cards as well as the monetary donations to the Wrangell EMS and Fire Department in her memory.

Overdrawing PFD

is not the best option

Recently, the Alaska Legislative Fiscal Policy Working Group was established with the goal of making progress toward a long-term sustainable fiscal plan for the state, protecting the Permanent Fund and providing an annual dividend for generations of Alaskans to come.

It consisted of eight legislators: two from each caucus within both the House and the Senate. The group met 35 times over two months, and last month released its final report. Their work solidified the baseline assumptions and possible paths forward for our fiscal future.

Their recommendations were:

1. Restructure the Permanent Fund as a single, constitutionally protected account with annual draws limited to 5% of the fund's market value (POMV).

2. Constitutional certainty for the dividend.

3. A new dividend formula, based off the POMV draw.

4. A healthy capital budget.

5. New state revenues of $500 million to $775 million a year; the type(s) of additional revenue are not specified.

6. Budget reductions of $25 million to $200 million over multiple years through structural and statutory reforms that maintain levels of service but improve efficiency.

7. Revise spending limits.

8. One-time fiscal measures over the next few years as a transition period. Those measures may include a one-time transfer of $3 billion above the annual 5% POMV draw from the Permanent Fund to bridge budget deficits, or a dividend "stair step" that starts with a modest dividend and increases to the new formula's full amount after adopting the above solutions.

9. The comprehensive solution must prove resilient to fiscal stress and able to survive market volatility and the varying price of oil.

One of the most important points is the very first recommendation to limit the fund draw to 5%. I am both thankful for and proud of the work done by the group, and agree that the above measures are necessary for creating a comprehensive fiscal solution. But I believe that capping and enforcing the POMV draw to 5% is most important and necessary to protect our Permanent Fund far into the future.

The $82 billion value of the Permanent Fund is almost entirely due to prudent one-time transfers, inflation proofing and smart investing. We are no longer an oil state: less than 25% of the value of the fund has come from oil royalties. Instead, we are a state with an incredible investment portfolio to rely on.

However, if we overdraw the fund, we are missing out on billions of dollars of investments and growth. In my opinion, recommendations No. 1 and the $3 billion additional draw on the Permanent Fund are incompatible. Because No. 1 is vital, I much prefer the option above of stair-stepping the dividend as the state adopts the other fiscal pieces of the solution.

Rep. Dan Ortiz

Ketchikan and Wrangell