The year the Tulsequah Chief Mine began polluting Alaska waters, a gallon of gas cost 31 cents, baseball great Jackie Robinson announced his retirement and the electric watch hit retail shelves for the first time.<\/p>\n
Since 1957, a Canadian facility 40 miles from Alaska\u2019s capital has leached toxic water into prime Alaska and Canada salmon habitat.<\/p>\n
Mining officials have issued numerous pollution abatement orders to mine owners over the years, but none have stuck. In the meantime, Alaska environmental groups and salmon industry advocates have called for the B.C. government to clean up the mess themselves.<\/p>\n
A recent $1.2 million financial seizure from the B.C.\u2019s Ministry of Energy and Mines marks the most concrete step to date toward cleaning up the TCM. Additionally, B.C. and the state of Alaska are working harder than ever to come up with a solution through their Transboundary Mining Work Group.<\/p>\n
But other indications show that no cleanup effort may be coming anytime soon. Canada still won\u2019t commit to a firm timeline to stop the pollution as B.C. still holds out hope a new developer will buy the beleaguered mine.<\/p>\n
So the question remains: who will clean up the Alaska\u2019s longest-running environmental mess?<\/p>\n
The dumping is illegal, but is it harmful?<\/strong><\/p>\n The pollution, called \u201cAcid Mine Drainage,\u201d stems from several mine adits which leach toxic chemicals through a retaining pond or overflow from a holding pond after rain showers.<\/p>\n It\u2019s brown and nasty and likely lethal to fish that swim directly through it. Recent estimates indicate that 12.8 liters per second, or over 400 million liters per year, of AMD are leaching from the site.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a point of contention between environmentalists and mining officials in B.C. just how much of an effect the AMD is having. Most studies show that it currently isn\u2019t harming fish stocks. The Taku River watershed is the biggest intact watershed on the West Coast, with the power to dilute the pollution many times over.<\/p>\n But with the mine leaching AMD for so long, environmentalists say they don\u2019t want to wait for fish to go belly up before cleaning up the site.<\/p>\n B.C.\u2019s Minister of Energy and Mines Bill Bennett said in a Friday phone interview that, \u201cWe\u2019re operating right now on the basis of some research at the site, in the river by both Alaska and British Columbia and that research has indicated at this point and time that there is no contamination in the river.\u201d<\/p>\n Bennett has repeatedly made this claim to media, citing unnamed Alaska scientists. He said he gathered this information from a joint meeting between Alaska and B.C. officials in the past several years.<\/p>\n \u201cI stood in a room in Juneau when an Alaskan official spoke up, on her own, and told us that all of their studies have indicated that there was no contamination,\u201d Bennett said.<\/p>\n When asked for a source, Bennett said, \u201cI haven\u2019t been there in a couple years so I don\u2019t remember\u201d but he\u2019d have his staff look into it.<\/p>\n The Alaska Division of Habitat\u2019s Jackie Timothy, when reached for comment about Bennett\u2019s claim, stressed that the minister is \u201cworking very hard\u201d to end the pollution, but has a \u201c30,000-foot view\u201d which may prevent him from speaking precisely on the issue.<\/p>\n She was also a little taken aback by Bennett\u2019s claim that the TCM isn\u2019t contaminating the river.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s hard for me to believe that he (Bennett) said that. He understands, he\u2019s been there and he\u2019s seen it. There is drainage from that mine that has been draining into the Tulsequah for 60 years and the drainage has been documented as acid drainage,\u201d Timothy said. \u201cHe\u2019s fully aware of that.\u201d<\/p>\n Bennett may simply be operating on a misunderstanding. The river is being contaminated, \u201cclearly,\u201d in Timothy\u2019s words, but maybe not enough to be hurting fish. However, to say there\u2019s no contamination coming from the TCM simply isn\u2019t true.<\/p>\n When asked for clarification through text message, Bennett said the Empire could replace the word \u201ccontamination\u201d with \u201charm.\u201d<\/p>\n When asked about a study done by the mine\u2019s most recent owner, Chieftain Metals, which shows water quality exceeds acceptable levels for parts of the year, Bennett said:<\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t show that harm is being done. It shows that it exceeds water quality standards. That\u2019s not the same as saying harm is being done,\u201d Bennett said. \u201cWhat I am saying to you is there is not currently an emergency that we are aware of. We are going to deal with this. We\u2019re going to do our Ecological Risk Assessment in the spring, then we\u2019ll make a determination whether there is environmental harm being done.\u201d<\/p>\n In a Jan. 4 email response to Rivers Without Borders, a conservation group based in Juneau, Michelle Hale, Director for the Division of Water at the Department of Environmental Conservation, explained that Water Quality Standards are put in place to protect wildlife.<\/p>\n \u201cWQS are intended to protect different beneficial uses of marine and fresh waters, including the growth and propagation of aquatic life,\u201d Hale wrote.<\/p>\n But she also clarified that her data does not show that the TCM is currently having any effect on salmon.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026 With that said, the data and information we have looked at to date has not caused us to conclude a WQS is being exceeded in the Taku River in Alaska due to the mine drainage from the Tulsequah Chief site.\u201d<\/p>\n Whether or not the pollution has yet affected fish stalks is debatable, but the existence of the pollution is illegal. It violates Canadian fisheries law, mine permits and agreements with the Taku River Tlingit First Nations.<\/p>\n Studies are inconclusive<\/strong><\/p>\n The TCM\u2019s toxic water first dumps into the Tulsequah River, then makes its way into the Taku River, where a lucrative commercial fishery operates seasonally. The river is home to a vulnerable population of king salmon that faces unprecedented low numbers.<\/p>\n Studies indicate that this pollution is probably not currently killing fish. Tissue samples taken from Dolly Varden Char, a salmonid, have not shown elevated levels of concentrated metals from populations of fish below the mine runoff.<\/p>\n No similar studies have been conducted on the chum, sockeye and coho salmon important to Taku River commercial and sport fishermen.<\/p>\n The acid mine drainage does have the potential to harm ecosystems even if fish aren\u2019t currently going belly up, said Timothy.<\/p>\n \u201cIt could affect bugs and sediment. It could make it so that you don\u2019t have algae growing on rocks, the normal things your would be seeing,\u201d Timothy said.<\/p>\n The AMD shows high concentrations of copper, a mineral which can disrupt a salmon\u2019s ability to \u201csmell,\u201d in a sense, leaving them disoriented and vulnerable to predators. AMD water flowing out of the mine has shown levels of copper up to 52,000 parts per billion.<\/p>\n That\u2019s many thousands of times higher than it takes to effectively kill a salmon, but as the AMD gets diluted, its effects lessen.<\/p>\n Studies of water quality on the Taku and Tulsequah rivers show mixed results on whether there\u2019s enough copper in the river to affect fish downstream. They also don\u2019t clearly show that this copper is coming directly from the mine.<\/p>\n A 2014 study conducted by two third-party B.C. environmental consultants revealed that water quality below the mine exceeds acceptable standards for parts of the year while meeting standards at other times. That study was part of the Environmental Risk Assessment B.C. ordered Chieftain to conduct before closing the plant.<\/p>\n But there were numerous flaws in that study, leading the MEM to order Chieftan to start the study over. The company went bankrupt before it could complete a new ERA.<\/p>\n Another study finds copper exceedances both upriver and below the mine, with levels of copper peaking in low flow months of January and February. The Tulsequah lies in a \u201cmineral rich\u201d valley, Timothy said, meaning it\u2019s already rich with some of the same minerals leaching out of the TCM.<\/p>\n B.C. has used $1.2 million in a recently-seized bond from Chieftan Metals to conduct a new ERA, which will come out in March or April, according to an email from Barbara Blake, Senior Advisor to Governor Bill Walker and Lt. Governor Byron Mallott.<\/p>\n \u201cThe consultant is currently finalizing the report with B.C.,\u201d Blake wrote.<\/p>\n That bond money was also used to secure some on-site chemicals used for Chieftain\u2019s shortlived water treatment facility.<\/p>\n Bennett said he\u2019s waiting on that ERA to decide whether or not to commit government funds to the cleanup.<\/p>\n \u201cOur laws don\u2019t allow inadvertant surface discharge that is happening at Tulsequah. And we will repair the settling ponds this summer,\u201d Bennett said. \u201cBut again, if the ERA fails to reveal environmental harm, we will not spend tax dollars. We will wait a while to see if a private sector party will assume the cost in return for a permit and a bond.\u201d<\/p>\n Shopping for a new buyer<\/strong><\/p>\n The TCM has changed hands several times. The last two companies to own the mine \u2014 Redfern Resources Ltd. and Chieftain Metals \u2014 gave up on plans to revamp the project and have since gone bankrupt.<\/p>\n Neither company has followed through on pollution abatement or mine closure plans written into project proposals. As a result, the provincial government has taken control of the project twice in an attempt to wrest funds out of the failed mine.<\/p>\n Redfern Resources Ltd. bought the mine in 1997 and handed it over to B.C. in 2009. After taking control of the mine in 2009, B.C. sold the project to Chieftain Metals, who agreed to address the Acid Mine Drainage when they bought the property in 2010.<\/p>\n Chieftain went bankrupt last fall and the project remains in a second round of receivership, with B.C. hoping Toronto-based firm Grant Thorton LLP can sell the project once again and pass the buck off to a new developer.<\/p>\n Jennifer Kwon, a junior partner with Thorton, said they are still in the process of looking for a buyer and don\u2019t have a time limit to finding one.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are running a sales process and haven\u2019t identified a purchaser yet,\u201d Kwon said. There\u2019s \u201cno deadline per se\u201d to sell the project, but Grant Thorton is \u201cexchanging correspondence with potential buyers.\u201d<\/p>\n The end game<\/strong><\/p>\n The existence of an ecological emergency is \u201cwhat\u2019s driving the timetable\u201d in Bennett\u2019s words.<\/p>\n \u201cIf there\u2019s contamination happening \u2026 the province would then step in and clean it up, but we don\u2019t have evidence of that right now\u201d he said. \u201cThe ecological risk assessment will be the final word on that.\u201d<\/p>\n If the ERA doesn\u2019t constitute an emergency, which, if past studies are any indication, it won\u2019t, B.C. will continue to allow the TCM to illegally dump millions of tons of untreated water into the river.<\/p>\n If a buyer shows interest in the mine and purchases it, Bennett has promised that he will include \u201cironclad\u201d agreements to hold the new owners responsible for clean up.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u2022 Contact reporter Kevin Gullufsen at 523-2228 or kevin.gullufsen@juneauempire.com.<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The year the Tulsequah Chief Mine began polluting Alaska waters, a gallon of gas cost 31 cents, baseball great Jackie Robinson announced his retirement and the electric watch hit retail shelves for the first time. Since 1957, a Canadian facility 40 miles from Alaska\u2019s capital has leached toxic water into prime Alaska and Canada salmon […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":427,"featured_media":13114,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-13113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/427"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13113"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=13113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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