River advocates want pause to new mining projects in B.C.

Southeast Alaskans and officials in British Columbia say they're getting closer to meeting on transboundary mining issues. Until that happens, advocates on the Alaska side of the border want to see a pause in new projects upstream in Canada.

"I've always been an optimistic person," said Frederick Olsen Jr., executive director of the Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission. "In this issue you really have to be. We have some good allies that we've met across the border."

There are three rivers at the forefront of concerns for the transboundary group. The Stikine, Taku and Unuk flow from British Columbia into Southeast Alaska, and there have long been concerns over mining activities in B.C. affecting these critical Alaska watersheds.

The Red Chris Mine began operating in the headwaters of the Stikine River in 2015, raising new alarms for advocates in Southeast. The open-pit copper and gold mine is about 60 miles east of the Stikine, near the community of Iskut, about equidistant from Wrangell and the Yukon Territory border.

Earlier this year, Olsen said, the commission reached out to the British Columbia Ministry of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation, asking for more engagement on mining issues.

"We're looking at that as the beginning of government-to-government meetings," Olsen said.

In an email to the Wrangell Sentinel in August, the B.C. Energy Ministry confirmed staff will take part in virtual talks with SEITC, but they haven't happened yet. Meetings will include the B.C. Ministries of Environment and Climate Change Strategy and Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation, as well as the provincial Environmental Assessment Office.

The state will not be involved in those conversations, said Kyle Moselle, executive director of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources Office of Project Management and Permitting. He added, however, "It's positive that Alaska tribes are reaching out to the province of B.C. and the province of B.C. is responding."

The state's top priority in regard to transboundary mining, Moselle said, is reclamation of the Tulsequah Chief Mine on the Canadian side of the Taku River watershed. The mine closed half-a-century ago, but acid rock drainage continues to leak into the water, according to DNR's website. The province is monitoring water quality as it works toward a cleanup plan.

While Olsen believes SEITC is close to meeting with ministry representatives, the process of getting to that point is taking time. He said leaders in B.C. are conducting internal reviews before talks can begin. In the meantime, earlier this year, the commission told B.C. officials it wants to see a pause on new permits, amendments to existing permits, and approval of new mining projects.

The commission in August, along with the Alaska nonprofit Salmon Beyond Borders, sent a resolution to community members, municipalities and tribes in Southeast that reiterates these demands. It calls for a ban on tailings dams, as well as a pause on new mining activity until the U.S.-Canada Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 and the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples are upheld.

The organizations are asking local communities to take action of their own.

"While I'm hopeful that B.C. will follow through on their commitments toward meeting with downstream tribes, we have yet to see that happen," said Salmon Beyond Borders director Jill Weitz.

"We have to require better standards, better recourse and bonding requirements for these companies going forward," said Weitz, pointing to the history of slow progress of Tulsequah mine cleanup.

Wrangell Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen said the resolution will be on the borough assembly agenda for its Sept. 14 meeting.

Olsen said SEITC is also waiting to hear from Canada regarding a human rights petition filed last year. The petition, filed by environmental law firm Earthjustice on behalf of SEITC in June 2020 with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, contends that "Canada has violated petitioners' human rights by failing to prevent foreseeable harms from six hard-rock mines ... operating or being considered for approval in British Columbia, Canada, in watersheds that cross the Canada-United States border into petitioners' traditional waters."

"We're talking about an international problem. It needs international solutions," said Olsen. "We're trying to use all the tools in our toolshed to protect our transboundary waters ... our sacred waters."

In April of this year, the human rights commission told SEITC it forwarded relevant parts of the petition to the Canadian government. The notice said Canadian officials had four months to respond.

"If you do the math, that's right about now," Olsen said.