Lieutenant Gov. Byron Mallott on Monday shared with a citizens\u2019 advisory group a draft copy of a statement of cooperation with British Columbia about an issue many Southeast Alaskan fishermen, environmental groups and tour operators are concerned with: British Canadian mining on transboundary rivers.<\/p>\n
Within two weeks, attendees will share their suggestions and concerns; after the document is amended, the state will send it to Canada for comments from officials on the other side of the border.<\/p>\n
The statement of cooperation aims to establish collaboration on protection especially of the Taku, Stikine, Unuk and Alsek watersheds \u201cfrom the risk of substantial adverse impacts from the development of mines and other significant commercial development activity, including increased marine traffic.\u201d<\/p>\n
If both British Columbia and Alaska agree to the terms of the SOC, the two will work together on water quality testing in those watersheds, something Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Larry Hartig said is already moving ahead.<\/p>\n
One thing that will be a challenge, officials noted, is figuring out how to move forward with water quality tests, tests on the health of aquatic life, and other measures in light of Alaska\u2019s shrinking monetary resources.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to be judicious and thoughtful (about how we apply our resources,)\u201d Hartig said.<\/p>\n
The DEC\u2019s Division of Water, said Director Michelle Hale, has been reaching out to partners with which to collaborate on that testing, and the department will be using federal funding for some of those tests.<\/p>\n
Another big focus in the document is an increase in communication and transparency.<\/p>\n
\u201cEnough information probably hasn\u2019t been shared, at least shared in a way that people could easily access it in Alaska,\u201d Hartig said. \u201cAnd maybe we haven\u2019t gone as in-depth on some issues as the Alaska public would want us to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s making the data available, but also consumable by the public,\u201d Hale said.<\/p>\n
The state, federal entities, and provincial entities on the Canadian side, as well as First Nations and tribes, collect data; the challenge will be to ensure each bit of data can \u201ctalk to\u201d the other bits of data, Hale said \u2014 in other words, that they use the same protocols and techniques.<\/p>\n
Other concerns, Hartig said, are liability for catastrophic events, and earthen dams like the tailings dam that failed at Mount Polley Mine in August 2014.<\/p>\n
The SOC, Hartig said, will apply to all stages of a mine, including post-closure.<\/p>\n
Department of Natural Resources Deputy Commissioner Ed Fogle said British Columbia plans more public meetings in Alaska, something they\u2019d also like to see formalized.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
International Joint Commission<\/strong><\/p>\n Several of the meeting\u2019s attendees said regardless of the agreement, they still want the involvement of the International Joint Commission, which regulates disputes under the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the time for that,\u201d said CCTHITA First Vice President Will Micklin. \u201cWe\u2019ll work with you to gain the attention and resources of the IJC.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t underscore enough how I think it\u2019s time for state of Alaska to play a role in building a relationship with British Columbia and approaching our federal government again,\u201d said Salmon Beyond Borders spokesperson and fisherman Heather Hardcastle. \u201cThe State Department has told all of us this is a local issue \u2026 but how can it be that? This is an international border \u2026 If we don\u2019t ask \u2026 we certainly won\u2019t get them involved.\u201d<\/p>\n Mallott said the state\u2019s actions and statement of cooperation \u201caren\u2019t meant to preempt any of that.\u201d<\/p>\n Rivers Without Borders Alaska Campaign Director Chris Zimmer said he\u2019d like to see an agreement with more \u201cteeth,\u201d or legal recourse for Alaska should Canada fail to live up to its side of the bargain.<\/p>\n \u201cThis statement of cooperation may be a start, but it just doesn\u2019t get at some of the very specific commitments we want to see, and it doesn\u2019t set up the systems for compensation, for clean up, for analysis of cumulative effects,\u201d he said after the meeting. \u201cBut I think what the (lieutenant) governor said was encouraging \u2026 that this may be just a first step \u2026 and in the next iteration of this we get more specific.\u201d<\/p>\n Mallott said the state isn\u2019t able to enter a legally binding agreement with a foreign entity without it being something like a treaty, that\u2019s federally ratified.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a document, or a relationship, more than anything else, that we hope will continue into the future,\u201d Mallott said.<\/p>\n Mallott, and officials from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the Department of Natural Resources, the Department of Environmental Conservation and the Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development attended the meeting Monday, as did fishing and interest group representatives, an Alaska Miners Association representative, state legislators, and tribal representatives from the Sitka Tribe, the Douglas Indian Association, and Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska.<\/p>\n \u2022 Contact outdoors writer Mary Catharine Martin at maryc.martin@juneauempire.com.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Lieutenant Gov. Byron Mallott on Monday shared with a citizens\u2019 advisory group a draft copy of a statement of cooperation with British Columbia about an issue many Southeast Alaskan fishermen, environmental groups and tour operators are concerned with: British Canadian mining on transboundary rivers. Within two weeks, attendees will share their suggestions and concerns; after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":7,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[149],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-17475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","tag-outdoors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17475","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\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17475\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17475"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=17475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}