Acid drainage from the Tulsequah Chief Mine, northeast of Juneau, discolors a leaking containment pond next to the Tulsequah River in British Columbia in 2013. The U.S. State Department is addressing concerns that other B.C. mines will pollute Alaska rivers. (Photo courtesy Chris Miller/Trout Unlimited)

The federal government is taking on the transboundary mining issue.

The U.S. State Department now acknowledges Alaskans’ concerns about pollution from British Columbia mines. And it’s committed to engaging Canadian officials to protect salmon-rich, cross-boundary watersheds.

In November, the State Department issued a statement saying it was aware of Alaskans’ environmental concerns. And it said it was raising the issue with its Canadian counterparts.

But details were scarce.

Then, the department sent a letter to Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott, who released it Dec. 28. He’s headed up the administration’s efforts to address potential pollution from mineral prospects across the border in British Columbia.

Mines adviser Barbara Blake and tribal leader Rob Sanderson Jr. participate in a forum March 9, 2016, in Juneau. (Photo by Ed Schoenfeld/CoastAlaska News)

“We’re very excited to see the federal government engaged in this issue and their response that they’ve made to us and to see the actions going forward,” said Barbara Blake, the Walker-Mallott administration’s senior transboundary mines adviser.

She said one important promise is to research what the two governments can do to protect Southeast Alaska watersheds.

“They’re looking at the gaps and limitations of cooperation between our two countries right now,” Blake said. “And so we’re anxious to see what comes about from their analysis or their review of any gaps or limitations as they currently stand.”

The State Department will release its findings at an April meeting of the International Joint Commission, the panel that addresses transboundary water concerns.

The department earlier said it would not get involved with the issue.

The federal agency’s letter came in response to a November request from the Walker-Mallott administration and Alaska’s congressional delegation to address transboundary mining.

Mine critics have repeatedly called for commission involvement.

One is Frederick Olsen Jr., who chairs the SouthEast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission. He’s also tribal president of the Organized Village of Kasaan, on Prince of Wales Island.

“It looks like it’s a good first step,” Olsen said. “Of course, as it said in the letter, to have the International Joint Commission, you still have to have the Canadians support that.”

This aerial image from a British Columbia emergency office video shows the Mount Polley dam breaks and some of the damage downstream.

Heather Hardcastle of Salmon Beyond Borders agrees. She’s encouraged, but said there’s a lot more work to be done.

“I think first and foremost we’re looking at some sort of financial-assurances mechanism to be set up so that those of us downstream of these mega-mines know that appropriate bonding has been required of these mining companies,” she said.

Two mines are operating in transboundary watersheds that flow into Alaska, the Brucejack and the Red Chris. Another, the Tulsequah Chief, is closed and leaking polluted water.

Several others are in the exploration phase.

Developers and owners have said their operations are or will be safe and won’t damage the environment.

She said officials also need to press for better technology, including changes in the way waste rock from ore-processing is stored.

Mines commonly put them underwater behind earthen dams. Hardcastle said that will lead to spills of polluted water that will harm fish and people downstream.

That’s what happened in 2014, when an eastern British Columbia storage dam broke.

Observers estimated enough water, mud and rock escaped to fill 2,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Southeast tribal leader Frederick Olsen Jr., left, and Bristol Bay tribal leader Robert Heyano pose after signing an agreement to work together on mining issues Oct. 19, 2017. (Photo by United Tribes of Bristol Bay)

Olsen said words can’t prevent that from happening closer to home.

“Not to be rude, but it’s just a letter. That little piece of paper, if you printed it out, would not stop a lake of poison debacle like Mount Polley or something like that,” Olsen said.

The State Department’s letter mentions tribal concerns. But it doesn’t say anything about tribal involvement.

Rob Sanderson Jr. is first vice president of the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska.

“At the end of the day we are government. The tribes are government,” he said. “So we need to be able to use that leverage moving forward. Not just the state, but the tribes too.”

Walker-Mallott mines adviser Blake said officials are looking forward to learning more about the State Department’s plans.

But she said the administration is not turning the whole issue over to the federal government.

“We’re going to continue be engaged with them as necessary and wherever possible. The lieutenant governor would like the state to remain involved in this process,” she said.

She said Mallott will travel to Washington, D.C., for a federal interdepartmental work group led by the Environmental Protection Agency. He’ll also meet with Canadian officials in Ottawa.

His office also will continue following up on a cooperative agreement Alaska and British Columbia signed last year.

The post Feds jump into transboundary mining dispute appeared first on KRBD.

Groups rally against mine and other development during the 2017 Alaska Federation of Natives convention in Anchorage. Southeast and Bristol Bay tribal officials signed an agreement during the convention to combine fisheries-protection efforts. (Photo by Zach Hughes/Alaska Public Media)

Tribal groups from opposite ends of the state have formed an alliance to fight mines they say threaten traditional fisheries.

Organizations representing about 30 Southeast Alaska and Bristol Bay tribal governments signed a memorandum of agreement Oct. 18 during the Alaska Federation of Natives convention in Anchorage.

The United Tribes of Bristol Bay opposes Southwest Alaska’s Pebble Mine project. The Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission is critical of mines and exploration projects in British Columbia watersheds that drain into state waters.

Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission Chairman Frederick Olsen Jr., left, and United Tribes of Bristol Bay President Robert Heyano hold canned salmon after signing an agreement Oct. 18. (Photo by  United Tribes of Bristol Bay)

“To combine with several tribes from the other part of the state should send a powerful message to everyone and especially the federal government that we want the federal government to uphold its fiduciary trust responsibility and its government-to-government relationship with its federally recognized tribes,” said Frederick Olsen Jr., who chairs the Southeast coalition.

The organizations agreed to back each other’s efforts to protect their regions’ fisheries, Olsen said.

United Tribes of Bristol Bay President Robert Heyano said what he calls mega-mines are threatening indigenous people.

“Our tribes are under siege, but the unification of our people is a powerful move to defeat these toxic projects,” he said in a news release.

Olsen said the two regional efforts have similar goals, but some differences.

“With our issue, the mines are in a different country. Maybe our fight’s a little more uphill,” he said. “It’s hard to say which one’s harder, of course. The grass is always browner on the other side of the fence in this issue.”

He said the coalition hopes to expand the alliance to tribal groups in other parts of the state.

Developers of mines in both areas say they’re safe and will not damage fish or wildlife habitat.

The post Alaska tribes unite to oppose mega-mines appeared first on KRBD.

Eight transboundary watersheds feed Southeast Alaska rivers. A coalition of tribal governments is pushing the federal government to protect their fisheries. (Map by Alaska Department of Natural Resources.)

Could a cross-boundary mining battle lead to a trade war with Canada? A Southeast Alaska tribal organization is using that possibility to push federal officials into providing stronger protections for regional fisheries.

A coalition of 16 Southeast tribal governments has filed paperwork that could lead to trade sanctions against British Columbia, which borders the region.

Frederick Olsen Jr. is chairman of the Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission. He said about half of the region’s tribal governments have signed a petition to the federal Department of the Interior.

“The goal is to get federal involvement in our transboundary mining issue. And so we are getting some more of our member tribes to sign on,” he said.

What’s called a Pelly Petition is allowed under a provision of the federal Fishermen’s Protective Act.

Guy Archibald is staff scientist for the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, which also opposes transboundary mining.

“If another country is found to be violating the tenets of the Fisherman’s Act, the other country can institute trade sanctions against that country,” he said.

Frederick Olsen Jr. is chairman of the Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission. (Photo courtesy SAITC)

A number of advocacy groups and local governments are concerned about mines on or near British Columbia rivers that flow through Southeast. They said silt, minerals and acidic water from the mines will damage fish stocks on both sides of the border.

British Columbia’s mineral-extraction industry said it develops and operates its mines safely, with limited environmental impacts. But it’s had to defend itself after the Mount Polley Mine tailings dam collapse.

Archibald said trade sanctions are not the petition’s real goal.

Instead, the groups want federal officials to put their concerns before the International Joint Commission. That panel moderates disputes involving U.S.-Canada boundary waters.

“Now, nobody really wants to start a trade war with British Columbia. Basically, what they’re saying, is that if neither country wants to refer this matter to the International Joint Commission, we as the people on this side have another options. And that maybe the International Joint Commission would be the less onerous of the two options,” he said.

Interior Department officials did not immediately respond to inquiries about the petition. Archibald said they’ve told petitioners they’re looking into it, but that’s all.

Earlier efforts trying to get the State Department to involve the joint commission were unsuccessful.

The Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission is the new name for the United Tribal Transboundary Mining Work Group.

Olsen, the chairman and a Kasaan resident, said the new name addresses the wider scope of the group’s work.

Tis Peterman is coodinator of the Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission, formerly the United Tribal Transboundary Mining Work Group. (Photo by KSTK-FM)

“Transboundary issues are far beyond mining alone. There’s oil tankers, there’s radioactive debris, there’s fish farms breaking apart, there’s cruise ships dumping their bad water,” he said.

Another change: The nonprofit organization hired its first employee in August.

Wrangell resident and activist Tis Peterman is the new coordinator.

“We’ve never had a staff person. And so trying to get everybody coordinated and meeting and coordinating meetings with First Nations in B.C. is one of my tasks,” she said.

The organization is also reaching out to Alaska Native groups facing similar issues. Olsen said that includes the United Tribes of Bristol Bay.

“We completely back them up in their fight against the Pebble Mine and to protect Bristol Bay and all the watersheds up there,” he said.

He said hiring a coordinator will help develop and formalize such relationships.

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