Salmon Protection
Dear Editor: As a commercial fisherman I would like to thank state Sen. Bert Stedman for his continuing opposition to HB77. This bill gives extraordinary power to an unelected official, the Commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources, to permit projects that could damage salmon systems and limits public oversight.
If passed it would supersede all other existing Alaska laws designed to protect fish. HB77 makes it harder for individuals, Native groups and non-profits to challenge DNR decisions concerning fish and wildlife habitat. If residents of Sitka are concerned about Alaska’s salmon I urge them to learn more about this pernicious bill.
Matt Donohoe, Sitka
EDITOR’S NOTE: An Associated Press story about the bill is on today’s front page.
HB77 Opposition
Dear Editor: Thursday night’s paper had a front page article on the Tulsequah Chief Mine in British Columbia that is shut down but is leaking “significant levels of copper and zinc” into the water because “cost overruns precipitated the shutdown and the water treatment plant would not be operated until adequate funds were secured.” In other words: the mine extracted all the profitable ore and the operators left with their profit while abandoning the mess, leaving a scarred landscape for the next generation to deal with and clean up. The mine is on a tributary to the Taku Rive – a huge producer of salmon – including king salmon that are caught by Sitka’s commercial and sport fisheries.
Although even the Alaska Department of Conservation recognizes the impact of copper on fish, cites its toxicity to salmon and says that it greatly interferes with their ability to smell, return to their natal streams, and avoid predators, the consultant commissioned by British Columbia says not to worry. They say that the “significant levels of copper and zinc” pose low risk to fish. This study seems to be a direct contradiction to previous orders from the same British Columbia ministry that the mine company treat the waste and prevent it from entering the river.
Consultants often say what the people signing their paycheck want them to say. In this case, British Columbia doesn’t want to call attention to the risks posed by mining on the rivers that flow into Southeast Alaska because they are planning future permits for even larger mines just upstream of us. These new mines will have enormous tailings ponds that will have water treatment plants that feign to clean toxic waters “forever.” In this case, we have seen how long forever is, as a mine company, seeing a loss of profits, takes the money and runs, leaving communities and habitats decimated in their wake. Will they ask the fishermen who will be impacted to “secure adequate funds” to clean up the water?
If we care about the future of our fisheries in Alaska, we must pay attention to both the mines being proposed in British Columbia as well as the efforts by Gov. Parnell to streamline mining permitting processes and take the public out of the processes that oversee mining development projects. If the federal government doesn’t keep an eye on Canada’s mining proposals, we could have toxic time-bombs on the same rivers where so many of our fish come from. If we let HB77 – the silencing Alaskans act pass, citizens and municipalities won’t have any say on mining proposals in our state.
We will be asking our elected representatives to take action to protect our salmon fisheries from these threats. Fishermen and individuals who care about the future of our fisheries and want to have a voice in proposals that will put our fisheries at risk should also let their elected officials know they are concerned.
Andrew Thoms, Executive Director
Sitka Conservation Society
