It\u2019s a matter of sequence.<\/p>\n
Southeast Alaskans involved on the issue of transboundary mines Wednesday delivered a letter to Governor Bill Walker and Lt. Governor Byron Mallott urging them to join municipalities, tribes, fishermen, the Alaska congressional delegation and thousands of Alaskans in asking the U.S. Department of State and the Canadian federal government to work together on stronger international safeguards for water quality, fisheries and communities in shared watersheds, according to a press release from Salmon Beyond Borders. The group is a coalition of tribes, first nations, business owners, fishermen and Southeast Alaska residents concerned about the impact of British Columbian mines in watersheds that flow into Alaska. The letter specifically recommends the State of Alaska seek help before finalizing non-binding negotiations with BC.<\/p>\n
The group doesn\u2019t want to be critical of the administration – it\u2019s grateful Walker and Mallott have gotten involved and sought citizen input – but its primary feedback on the Memorandum of Understanding the state is working on with BC is that sequence is important, Heather Hardcastle, director of Salmon Beyond Borders, said over the phone. The group would first like to see the state work with Alaska\u2019s congressional delegation – which Hardcastle said has expressed interest – in bringing the matter to Secretary of State John Kerry, who can recommend it to the International Joint Commission, which handles disputes under the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no rush for an MOU when that can never be binding,\u201d Hardcastle said. The federal government is the only way the state and its residents can get, for example, a financial guarantee should a BC tailings dam breach like that at Mount Polley Mine in 2014 adversely affect Alaska\u2019s fisheries or economy, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not that we\u2019re opposed to increased communication (outlined in the MOU); it just seems like there\u2019s potential to do this backwards,\u201d Hardcastle said. \u201cWhy wouldn\u2019t we use the best tool in the toolbox that we have?\u201d<\/p>\n
The letter delivered yesterday was signed by nearly 100 entities across Southeast Alaska and beyond, such as municipalities, tribal citizens, commercial and sport fishermen, seafood processors, and sport fishing and tourism companies, according to the release. The letter urges the Alaska governor to \u201c\u2026wait to transmit or sign this Statement of Cooperation until Secretary Kerry has communicated to Canada\u2019s new Minister of Foreign Affairs a request for action under the Boundary Waters Treaty.\u201d <\/p>\n
Lieutenant Gov. Mallott has reached out to concerned residents and groups, as well as the BC government, hosting BC Minister of Energy and Mines Bill Bennett\u2019s visit to Alaska in August. That visit resulted in the goal of an MOU between the state and the province. The governor\u2019s office in November signed a separate statement of understanding with BC, not the one a citizen\u2019s group was a week earlier asked to comment on.<\/p>\n
The governor\u2019s office\u2019s help is \u201ckey\u201d to the success of the request for federal involvement, the Salmon Beyond Borders release notes. <\/p>\n
\u201c…Local agreements such as the recently renewed Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation (MOU) between Alaska and British Columbia signed by Governor Walker and Premier Clark on November 25th, and the associated, not-yet-finalized draft Statement of Cooperation on Protection of Transboundary Waters (SOC), are inadequate to comprehensively address this transboundary issue,\u201d the press release says. <\/p>\n
In addition to Wednesday\u2019s letter, thousands of Alaskans have requested the State of Alaska, Alaska\u2019s congressional delegation and the U.S. State Department secure enforceable protections for the Taku, Stikine and Unuk watersheds through action under the Boundary Waters Treaty and with the involvement of the International Joint Commission (IJC). <\/p>\n
\u201cWe want the administration to remember (all these people have) asked for IJC involvement \u2014 and to please do it now,\u201d Hardcastle said, noting the election of new Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, President Barack Obama\u2019s last year in office, and the fact that Kerry has heard about the issue indicate this is a good time for IJC involvement. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s a matter of sequence. Southeast Alaskans involved on the issue of transboundary mines Wednesday delivered a letter to Governor Bill Walker and Lt. Governor Byron Mallott urging them to join municipalities, tribes, fishermen, the Alaska congressional delegation and thousands of Alaskans in asking the U.S. Department of State and the Canadian federal government to […]<\/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-29402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","tag-outdoors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29402","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=29402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29402\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29402"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=29402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}