Will development of the Tulsequah Chief Mine harm Taku River fisheries? Thursday night marks the first meeting of a task force created to seek out and address potential threats.
Sen. Dennis Egan, and Reps. Beth Kerttula and Cathy Muñoz will join eight selected task force members and facilitator Kevin Ritchie. Juneau’s legislative delegation announced the Taku River Fact-Finding Task Sorce in Sept.
The task force will review the health of Taku River fish and assess the effectiveness of current state and federal statutes and regulations. The task force will also investigate which state or federal agency will monitor industrial vessel traffic on the river and make sure each vessel’s safety and spill response is up to the task.
Thursday’s meeting will feature Ed Jones and Charlie Swanton with the Alaska Department of Fish & Game who will talk about Taku River fish runs and characteristics of spawning and rearing habitat. On Saturday Kyle Moselle, Department of Natural Resources, Office of Project Management and Permitting will talk about planned development that affects the Taku River.
The task force is made up of eight people selected to meet several criteria.
John Katasse is an Alaska Native with ties to the Taku River. Cherie Rudolph is an owner of private recreational property along the river. Michael Ward owns a commercial recreational property along the river. Len Peterson is a Southeast Alaska salmon commercial fishing permit holder. A commercial fish processor, Jim Erickson, is dependent on Taku River fish. Richard Yamada is a licensed sport fishing guide in the Juneau area. The sport fisherman slot was filled by Mike Peterson and Paul Kissner fills the role of non-governmental biologist.
“We’re pleased to have nine good people who are willing to take time from their busy lives to review the biological health of Taku River fish stocks, habitat, and game resources,” Juneau Senator Dennis Egan said in a press release. “We’ve asked them to look into which agencies are responsible for monitoring the well-being of the river and assess the effectiveness of current state and federal statutes and regulations.”
Juneau’s delegation plans to hold the meetings in the Alaska State Capitol in the House Finance Committee Room, Rm 519 on Thursday, Jan. 5 at 5pm to 8pm and Saturday, Jan. 7 at 9am to noon. The public is encouraged to attend.
For more information contact Kevin Ritchie, Taku River Fact-Finding Task Force Facilitator, at 957-1599.
Comments (15)
Add commentDo it again.......
Didn't these issues already get addressed when the hover barge was proposed to sevice the mine? I guess we'll get to see some gillnetters turn on the tears again over "their" river.Problem is, it's a Canadian river!
Meanwhile...
The current acid drainage continues and will do so until a treatment system is built. This will not happen until an operation kicks off at the mine. Did anyone consider that opening the mine would be the answer to mitigating the current pollution problem? Or shall the half century old status quo remain in effect? -leave it closed and let it leach- Water treatment won't happen if mining activity doesn't.
A road up the Taku
Solves lots of problems. Makes a lot more sense than that other dumb road idea.
Look to the past....
A review of the history of Hyder and Stewart up the Portland Canal may provide some insight for this task force.
Whole nuther country
The road up the Taku always sounded more feasible to me. Back in the '90s when it was proposed the then sitting BC minister cited "insurmountable obstacles". No studies, no consideration, just "No". So this mine is out of our hands as well. Telling Canadians they can't mine in Canada is like telling Iran they can't build nukes (and how is that one working out for you?). SEACC isn't even a mite in their ear. So good luck with this delegation.
Skirkz
Skirkz has an angle here worth contemplating. How much does this task force cost and who's paying for this?
The old adage about talk being cheap is not necessarily true in the modern world. Are their achievable results that might flow from this or is this yet another process oriented talk-a-thon?
taku river
i am glad someone is at least talking ....thats a good start and there 's plenty to talk about
Gillnets
I'm pretty sure the salmon bound for the Taku River are more worried about the gillnets.
While it may take a while to control/ stop leaching gillnetting can be restricted or stopped now.
A Taku road, not a Lynn Canal road
I spent a lot of time up the Taku at our cabin when I was a kid. If there was a road up there, I would probably be living there now.
A road up the Taku would cost a lot less than a Lynn Canal boondoggle, but of course it won't give freebie transport to the Kensington.
Crossing Hole in the Wall and Taku glaciers has always been cited as the big problem, but that could be solved with floating bridges. If you can cross Hood Canal or Lake Washington with a floating bridge, you can cross in front of those glaciers since neither of them is calving icebergs.
The Task Force (which I believe is all unpaid volunteers) should also contact the Taku River First Nations tribe in Atlin (Atlein Kwaan) about how having a road through their lands would be an economic boon for their tribal enterprises and give them funding to protect their subsistence resources.
I know a former DOT road
I know a former DOT road engineer who did a study years ago about a road up the Taku. He told me it's a highly feasible project. Back years ago the main concern was the glacier advancing over the road. The whole world would love to have that problem become a reality. It is much more sensible than that idiotic notion of building a road up Lynn Canal.
The Taku glacier is still
The Taku glacier is still advancing.
And...
They'll never find a western trade route to the Indies.
Who Pays?
Building a road up the Taku is probably feasible. But at what cost and who pays? Other than as a convenience for a relatively few folks, there is no overwhelming economic benefit to building a road.
Juneau is and will remain essentially a barge and aviation community even if a road is built up the Taku or up Lynn Canal. The nation is broke and there are no funds to build an expensive road out of or into Juneau.