Transboundary mining conference sees fears after natural and man-made disasters, hope after pacts

Calling mining pollution that’s existed for many decades an emergency now might seem a stretch. But participants in a transboundary mining conference in Juneau this week say there are circumstances — including recent natural and industry disasters — showing why a heightening of longstanding concerns is justified.

“I think that people are realizing that more and more this is an emergency situation,” Esther Aaltséen Reese, president of the Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission, said in an interview Wednesday. “We can’t just keep coming to these meetings and saying the same thing.”

The third annual Transboundary Mining Conference began two days after a major landslide hit Ketchikan on Sunday, one of numerous landslides and flooding events in Southeast Alaska in recent years. Participants in the four-day conference said such incidents expose how increasingly severe weather is furthering the risk at mining sites across the border in Canada where damage or an accident could have severe environmental impacts.

Another key incident raised during the conference was a spill in June of cyanide and other mining waste due to an infrastructure failure at Victoria Gold’s Eagle mine, the Yukon’s largest and newest gold mine, into a nearby creek that is part of the transboundary Yukon River system.

That prompted an Aug. 13 letter by Alaska’s congressional delegation asking the Biden administration to take more aggressive action toward Canada to clean up such pollution — including at the Tulsequah Chief mine about 20 miles from the border near Juneau “which has been polluting international waters for more than 66 years” — and curb future damaging activities. Among the activities during the conference was a boat tour of Taku Inlet, where one of the region’s top salmon-producing rivers is among the waterways threatened by Tulsequah pollution.

“Promises to remediate the site have been made over and over year after year, but never come to fruition, prolonging the impacts of its acidic drainage,” U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski said in videotaped remarks presented to the conference on Thursday. “Today, the global demand for minerals is soaring. Many new mines are being developed on the Canadian side of the border, increasing fears that an incident just upstream in Canada will have devastating consequences downstream in Alaska.”

There were, however, also presentations during the conference at Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall about what in some instances were called historical advances to resolve some of the longstanding issues.

The U.S. and Canadian governments agreed in March, for example, to ask the International Joint Commission (IJC) to work toward mitigating mining pollution into the Elk-Kootenai River that crosses the border between British Columbia and Montana. The agreement — which means the work will be done by an independent body comprised of six governments including tribes — came after years of stalled discussions, said Merrell-Ann Phare, the current IJC commissioner, during a keynote speech to the conference Thursday.

“I think the reason I’m here is because about five minutes after IJC got the Elk reference I said ‘Holy smokes, this is historic,’” she told the audience. While other collaborative efforts between stakeholders have occurred “this transboundary kind of thing has not happened anywhere else. It is important you never go back from this, right? This is now a new bar.”

Among the major signs of progress are the stakeholders showing trust in the commission as a neutral arbitrator, aided in part by a new policy “that says science and traditional knowledge have to be part of everything that you’re doing on this up to this point,” Phare said.

“We were (previously) given a number of references that say you have to engage with Indigenous people, or your study board should include Indigenous people,” she said. “But it didn’t actually give equal status to the knowledge of Indigenous people, just as a foundation, and this reference does that.”

The conference also allowed tribal governments to share another step toward progress being attempted by officials due to a 2021 Supreme Court of Canada ruling declaring Indigenous people who are not Canadian citizens still have constitutionally protected rights if they are descendants of groups that occupied territory there. Reese said seven Southeast Alaska tribes are seeking the same rights to intervene legally in mining activity on the Canadian side of the border.

“We’re the first ones who are testing (that) case, and we’re able to share that with other tribes as we’re trying to create this model for moving forward and making sure that we have a seat at the table in collaboration with the First Nations tribes,” she said.

Still, the individual problematic incidents and achievements toward progress were essentially battle points in a long-term war between parties that have seen mining activity both in Canada and the U.S. proceed at a steady pace. The letter from Alaska’s congressional delegation — besides mentioning the nearly 70-year-old Tulsequah problems — states members have for more than a decade “expressed grave concerns about the longstanding impacts and future threats of abandoned, developing, and operating mine projects located in British Columbia (B.C.) near the Canadian headwaters of Southeast Alaska’s rivers.”

“We realize that the copper and critical minerals that come from Canadian mines are a key part of U.S. and allied national security and an important part of resource development,” the letter states. “However, there is no need to sacrifice environmental protections in order to safeguard our security and power our communities.”

Canadian mining companies and government agencies were the frequent target of ire of other conference speakers and panel members. But the agenda also included Canadian officials who offered rebuttals to those criticisms.

“Canada does have a rigorous impact assessment process, both federally and provincially, and among the highest environmental standards in the world, and we do take great pride in that,” said Anna Classen, regional director general for Environment and Climate Change Canada, in a speech to attendees. “Along with environmental impacts and impacts on Indigenous peoples, cumulative and transboundary effects are also key components in decision making on whether a project can proceed.”

Classen also said the relationship between governments needs to go both ways.

“The U.S. does not have a reciprocal arrangement in place with Canada, and with Canadian First Nations and Indigenous peoples, whereby projects in the U.S. that may have in transboundary impacts we do not receive notification on this side of the border,” she said. “So we do hope that the U.S. will respond soon to Canada’s requests for reciprocal notification and opportunity to participate in U.S. assessment processes. Protecting shared ecosystems is a collaborative effort that demands joint participation.”

While some dialogue during the conference was confrontational, that is a necessary part of meaningful discussion that results in progress on an issue of such importance where key differences exist, said Chalyee Éesh Richard Peterson, president of the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, in remarks as the conference neared its end on Friday.

“I want to thank the federal government folks that were here, the state representatives that have been here because we do have to work together to solve these issues,” he said. “We have to break the reliance that we have on this industrial colonization. We need healthy and thriving communities.”

Some participants may have been offended by dismissive references to “critical minerals,” for instance, Peterson said. But “I’m glad to hear so many people offended by that because, you know, what is a critical mineral? Is it more critical than our lives? Is it more critical than the fish?”

In turn, Indigenous residents of the region have a responsibility that comes from a tradition of “the richest cultures thriving off our lands and stewarding the resources,” Peterson said.

“Finally Western science, Western government is starting to just turn — just a little bit — and recognize it in us,” he said. “And you know it can be hard when we’re in these tough rooms, but we got to lean into these conversations that will move us forward collectively.”

• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.