Tulsequah Chief mine back in spotlight

The Knowles administration worries that Alaska's borders aren't secure from acid and toxic metal drainage from a British Columbia mine.

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But a key U.S. agency has dropped many of its objections to the proposed reopening of the Tulsequah Chief mine, which is about 40 miles northeast of Juneau.

The long-delayed mining project, the subject of a court case and a lengthy administrative review in B.C., is the topic of a meeting Wednesday evening in Juneau. Alaska and B.C. officials will hold the meeting from 7-10 p.m. in the Treadwell Room at the Baranof Hotel. An open house begins at 6 p.m.

Redcorp, formerly Redfern Resources Ltd., has been working for seven years to reopen the multi-metal mine, which was operated from 1951-57.

The company won a project certificate from the province, but it was quashed by a judge last year for procedural irregularities that minimized the input of the Atlin-based Taku River Tlingit First Nation. Appeals in the court case are pending.

Meanwhile, a project review committee has been gathering more information on the proposed mining operation, area wildlife and fish, and a 100-mile access road that would have to be built from Atlin to the mine site. The road would cut through undisturbed wilderness that has cultural and subsistence importance for B.C. Tlingits.

In a recent "white paper," Alaska officials continue to argue that without an overall plan for the Taku River watershed, the river's annual production of 2 million salmon could be at risk. The paper notes the proposed impoundment of some tailings, or waste rock, just upstream of important fish-rearing areas, and says maintenance would have to be "in perpetuity."

"Canada and the United States have declared, in the Pacific Salmon Treaty, that both nations are committed to protecting the shared water and fish resources that move between the nations in this incredibly important transboundary river," the paper says.

Kerry Howard of Alaska's Division of Governmental Coordination said the Tulsequah Chief issue creates "a clash of permitting cultures." In the United States, details on environmental protection must be satisfied before a project gets a permit, while in Canada a general approval is granted with technical issues still to be resolved, she said.

Don Weir of the Taku Wilderness Association in Atlin said the B.C. government process has "a structural flaw." Officials with the Environmental Assessment Office originally said they weren't going to block the project and left it up to nongovernmental groups to conduct research, he said. "There wasn't any place in the British Columbia government where anybody stepped back and said, 'OK, is this project good for Atlin? Is this project good for the Tlingit?' "

Canada has resisted American efforts to have an international committee review the mine proposal.

A year ago, the state of Alaska was backed up by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Interior.

But under the Bush administration, Interior has reversed course. Environmentalists note that key agency posts are now held by former state Sen. Drue Pearce, sponsor of a resolution in the Legislature admonishing Gov. Tony Knowles to drop his opposition to the Tulsequah Chief mine, and by Cam Toohey, formerly of Arctic Power, the state-funded industry group pushing for oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

"It looks like Interior's really backing off a number of its concerns," said Chris Zimmer of Juneau, representing the Transboundary Watershed Alliance. "There's been no new science" indicating fewer environmental problems than previously thought, he said.

Toohey, special assistant to Secretary Gale Norton on Alaska issues, acknowledged a shift in position. The United States shouldn't be telling Canadians where they can build roads, he said. "I certainly don't want Canadians telling us where to build roads."

As for Alaska's downstream resources, Toohey said there has been adequate analysis of tailings disposal. Watershed studies aren't required for mines in Alaska, he said. He noted that the abandoned mine is leaching toxins now, something that might be mitigated once the mine is back in operation.