The City and Borough Mining Subcommittee will push the city’s mining ordinance — with some minor revisions — through to the CBJ Committee on the Whole, after listening and discussing expert comments.<\/p>\n
The committee took advice from Bob Loeffler, author of Jade North Analysis of the CBJ Mining Ordinance, and Kyle Moselle, Associate Director Department of Natural Resources Office of Project Management and Permitting, during Monday’s regular meeting at Assembly Chambers.<\/p>\n
Loeffler discussed the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) regarding the mining ordinance. Loeffler is currently working with coordinators at Bristol Bay’s Pebble Mine<\/a> permitting. He said more questions would get answered with a socioeconomic study.<\/p>\n “If the socioeconomic study looks at the impact and characteristics you care about, you should look at those,” Loeffler said. “More than an EIS is needed at Pebble Mine.”<\/p>\n The reclamation plan, Moselle explained, would be a five-year agreement outlining what the mining company would do reclaim the land to its original state when it is finished with its project.<\/p>\n Committee member Maria Gladziszewski asked what would happen if a major disaster occurred.<\/p>\n “The (reclamation) plan can be opened at anytime,” Moselle said. “In the case of a catastrophe, the mining operator has strict liability in that situation.”<\/p>\n Moselle also explained the plan’s process.<\/p>\n “Mining is an activity that requires countless qualifications,” Moselle said. “There is the process of determining the reclamation project obligations, then the proposal and then the reclamation plan is put forward.”<\/p>\n After hearing that recommendations, the committee officially approved moving the mining ordinance forward with the Feb. 8 and March 12 memos done by City Attorney Amy Mead.<\/p>\n Approved changes<\/p>\n