Protecting Bristol Bay
Trustees for Alaska have worked diligently on behalf of the people, water and wildlife resources of Bristol Bay, Alaska, the center of the world’s largest commercial salmon fishery and home to all five species of Pacific salmon--including the world’s largest sockeye salmon run--and Alaska’s largest king salmon run. Alaska Natives have depended on the region’s rich fish and wildlife to sustain their way of life for centuries. Today, the abundant resources are major contributors to Alaska’s economy.
The People We Represent
Trustees are working for Nunamta Aulukestai, a consortium of eight village corporations in the Bristol Bay region, as well as Rick Delkittie, Sr. of Nondalton, Violet Wilson of Naknek, former Alaska First Lady Bella Hammond, and Alaska Constitutional Convention Delegate Victor Fischer. These Alaskans live and work in the region, and/or believe that the risks of the proposed Pebble Mine to Alaska’s richest fisheries are simply too great.
The Pebble Mine: A Toxic Threat
One third of America’s catch of sockeye salmon is spawned in the waters downstream from a proposed mining project called the Pebble Mine. In these rich headwaters, near Lake Iliamna and between Lake Clark National Park and Katmai National Park and Preserve, the Pebble Limited Partnership (PLP) proposes to build the largest mine of its kind in North America and the second largest mine in the world. PLP is a 50-50 partnership between a Canadian junior mining company, Northern Dynasty Minerals, and London-based mining giant Anglo American. They propose to dig an open pit mine to extract an estimated 73 billion pounds of copper and 86 million ounces of gold, as well as molybdenum and silver. The footprint would cover more than two square miles, descend 1600 feet, store an estimated 2.5 billion tons of toxic tailings behind a pair of gargantuan dams, (which at 450 feet and 750 feet would together be larger than China’s Three Gorges Dam), and potentially discharge tailings directly into nearby lakes and streams.
Pebble exploration activities have already:
· Drilled hundreds of bore-holes, up to 7,000 feet deep;
· Drained hundreds of thousands of gallons of water from nearby streams and lakes;
· Discharged toxic drilling muds and waters into unlined pits and onto tundra;
· Distressed wildlife through blasting for seismic testing—so loud it can be heard as far away as ten miles--and frequent helicopter flights.
Trustees: Working to Sustain Fish and Water
The State of Alaska authorized the PLP to take as much as 130,000 gallons of water per day from unnamed streams and ponds with no state oversight of the withdrawals, no identification of specific withdrawal points, and no proof that the sources even contained enough water to support the use and whether fish and aquatic organisms were present.
Trustees for Alaska investigated Pebble’s water use permits and discovered that PLP was using water from unpermitted sources in the exploration area. We also learned that the State of Alaska failed to investigate the hydrology or presence of fish in the water. And we determined that taking water from streams and ponds was potentially harming the fish and aquatic resources because of insufficient protective measures.
What We’re Doing About It
On July 29, 2009, Trustees for Alaska filed a landmark lawsuit in Anchorage Superior Court asserting that the Alaska Department of Natural Resources violated Alaska’s Constitution in granting exploration and temporary water use permits for the Pebble Project. Read more about the case.