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Southeast Alaska: BC’s Mount Polley Mine to Re-Open; Alaskans to British Columbia: Your Downstream Neighbors are Watching By MARY KAUFFMAN - Southeast Alaskans expressed concern for the future of their most important salmon rivers after authorities in British Columbia, Canada announced last Thursday the re-opening of Mount Polley open pit copper/gold mine in south-central British Columbia. Officials granted the Mount Polley Mine conditional approval to resume limited operations. However, concerned Alaskan say the reopening is premature because recommended engineering, operational and safety changes have not been made.

The Mount Polley open pit copper/gold mine in south-central British Columbia.
Photograph courtesy Imperial Metals Corporation

Minister of Energy and Mines Bill Bennett and Minister of Environment Mary Polak announced on July 9th that after careful evaluation, statutory decision-makers with the ministries of Energy and Mines and Environment have conditionally authorized the Mount Polley Mine Corporation to begin restricted operations.

“This conditional restricted permit to re-start operations is the first of three significant steps the company needs to continue operation and does not include the ability to discharge water off the site,” said Bennett. “In the early fall, the company will need a second conditional permit to treat and discharge water in order for operations to continue. Lastly, the company must submit a long-term water treatment and discharge plan to government by June 30, 2016. The mine will not be authorized to continue to operate long-term if it fails to complete either of the last two steps.”

The Mount Polley Mine Corporation estimates it will take about 30 days before it can begin production now that ministry staff have amended the company’s Mines Act and Environmental Management Act permits. During restricted operations, the company expects to provide jobs for up to 220 workers.

The amended Mines Act permit authorizes the company to operate at roughly half the rate of normal operations. The tailings facility will not be utilized during the operation. Mount Polley Mine will use Springer Pit, an existing open pit on the mine site, to manage the tailings.

“I know the re-start of the mine is welcome news for the communities of Likely, Williams Lake, 100 Mile House and the families that depend on the jobs the mine provides,” said Bennett.

However, Alaskans are concerned. Less than a year ago, on August 4, 2014 a breach of the tailings storage facilitydyke occurred, releasing 6.6 billion gallons of toxic waste including arsenic, lead, and nickel into salmon-producing lakes and streams of the Fraser River watershed.

In response to the collapse, during the September 2014 period, the Imperial Metals company recorded costs of $67.4 million which included $20.3 million incurred for response and recovery as well as initial rehabilitation and restoration activities of the Mount Polley mine. The $67.4 million included a $47.1 million provision for future costs related to the tailings dam breach, exclusive of estimated insurance recoveries. - More...
Monday AM - July 13, 2015

Ketchikan: Agreement Beginning of Land Exchange Process - The U.S. Forest Service-Trust Land Exchange took a another step toward becoming a reality when representatives from the Forest Service and Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority (Trust) recently signed an Agreement to Initiate (ATI).

The agreement provides a roadmap to exchange land between the Trust Land Office, which manages lands for the Alaska Mental Health Trust, and the Forest Service. The ATI is similar to a business plan and illustrates the land exchange process.

The Forest Service would take over the management of approximately 18,000 acres of Trust land adjacent to the communities of Juneau, Petersburg, Wrangell, Sitka, and Ketchikan. In exchange, up to 21,000 acres of National Forest System lands would be conveyed to the Trust.

“The signing of the Agreement to Initiate is a milestone in a lengthy 10-year discussion process,” said John Morrison, Acting Executive Director for the Trust Land Office. “The administrative land exchange proposal was developed in collaboration with the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority, Forest Service, and variety of stakeholders and communities throughout Southeast Alaska.”

Although a federal land exchange can be a time-consuming and arduous process, the Tongass National Forest supervisor calls this collaborative exchange a win for all involved.

“The lands that the Trust wants to convey to us are located adjacent to several Southeast Alaska communities,” Forest Supervisor Earl Stewart explained. “The transfer could allow us to increase recreational opportunities for forest users. It also could enhance and complement the use of areas that are already being managed for the public.” - More...
Monday AM - July 13, 2015

Fish Factor: Massive marine debris removal project begins By LAINE WELCH - Kodiak volunteers were scrambling with front end loaders and dump trucks to ready 200,000 pounds of super sacks for the first pick up of a massive marine debris removal project that begins in Alaska this week.

The month long cleanup, which is backed by a who’s who of state and federal agencies, non-profits and private businesses, will deploy a 300 foot barge and helicopters to remove thousands of tons of marine debris from some of the world’s harshest and most remote coastlines.

“This is a really big deal for Alaska. We have one of the world’s newest and largest barges and an airlift operation that will fly over 2,000 helicopter trips from barge to shore. It is an unprecedented effort,” said Candice Bressler, Public Information Officer for the state Dept. of Environmental Conservation, lead agency for the project.

Most of the debris stems from the devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, which sent an estimated 1.5 million tons of flotsam and jetsam afloat in the North Pacific. Japan has donated $5 million to the coast-wide cleanup up effort.

The barge Dioskouroi (the world’s 5th largest; leased by Waste Management, Inc.) will load up in Kodiak on July 15, and be towed out the next day by the M/V Billie H.
The big tug will traverse the Gulf of Alaska and proceed along the Southeast coast to British Columbia, picking up debris sacks that were cached and bundled on remote beaches over past field seasons. - More...
Monday AM - July 13, 2015

Alaska: New Report Questions Wisdom of Large Oil and Gas Tax Credits - The Alaska Independent Democratic Coalition said the new report from the Alaska Department of Revenue shows a substantial negative effect on the finances of the State of Alaska from large oil and gas tax credits. The undated report concludes that North Slope oil and gas production tax credits may be an inferior investment for Alaska compared to investing in the Constitutional Budget Reserve Fund.

Several members of the Alaska Independent Democratic Coalition have questioned the effectiveness of oil and gas tax credits for the North Slope. Currently, the state is paying out more in tax credits than what is taken in from production taxes. In an effort to balance the state budget, the Alaska Independent Democratic Coalition supported a deferment of hundreds of millions in tax credits in FY 2016. That proposal was rejected by members of the Alaska House and Senate Majority. However, Alaska Governor Bill Walker recently vetoed $200 million in oil and gas tax credit payments from the FY 2016 budget.

“The oil and gas industry is vital to our state and should be supported. But at what cost? This new report shows the stark reality that our current tax credit program is not working,” said House Finance Committee member Rep. Scott Kawasaki (D-Fairbanks). “We are losing money on the credits and, as this report shows, our money could be invested in better ways.”

The Alaska Independent Democratic Coalition said the Alaska Department of Revenue's new report outlines, in detail, the fiscal return on the $4 billion in oil and gas tax credits from 2009-2014 compared to similar investments in the Constitutional Budget Reserve Fund. The report’s authors suggest the wealth lost due to credits is at least $900 million but could be as high as $4.9 billion depending on whether or not oil production is attributed to the tax credits. - More...
Monday AM - July 13, 2015