A renewed battle over water rights is just the latest hurdle for a Canadian mining firm hoping to develop a massive copper-gold-molybdenum deposit in Southwest Alaska.
Ron Thiessen, president and chief executive of Vancouver-based Northern Dynasty, said Sept. 21 that he hoped this time Alaska mining officials would accept this application for water rights on two rivers and a trout stream in the area of the proposed mine.
"The purpose of these applications is to obtain the future right to use water within the specified area for the purpose of building and operating the proposed Pebble Mine, once it is permitted," said Bruce Jenkins, chief operating officer for the mine.
"The processing of these applications will be undertaken as a part of the broader agency, and public review/permitting process for the Pebble project, a rigorous, comprehensive and multi-year process expected to begin in 2008," Jenkins said.
Mine owners are currently considering both a large open pit and an underground mine at a site at the headwaters of two major Bristol Bay drainages, the Nushagak and Kvichak. Both waterways flow to the Bristol Bay watershed, renown as a world-class commercial and sport salmon fishery.
The proposal has united commercial, sport and subsistence fishermen and some fish processors, who are worried that the proposed Pebble mine is just the tip of the iceberg. They are concerned that potential pollution from the mine could harm the fisheries, and that the growth of mining in the region would ultimately force the demise of the traditional Bristol Bay hunting and fishing lifestyle.
The Renewable Resources Coalition for Alaska, an outspoken opponent to the Pebble project, argues that such a mine would endanger "the most spectacular and abundant ecosystem in North America."
Along with these spawning waters, the source for the lucrative commercial and sport salmon fisheries, the area is also home to the 120,000-plus Mulchatna caribou herd, plus numerous moose, bear and other animals. The mine is a potential threat to them all, say opponents of the Pebble project.
Not so, argues Thiessen. "Our feet will be held to the fire not to do these things," said Thiessen, who said fouling the water and the fisheries "is not something I find acceptable."
The state Department of Natural Resources advised Northern Dynasty July 26 that the applications for water rights on the Upper Talarik Creek and north and south folks of the Koktuli River were incomplete, said Tom Crawford, large mine permitting manager for DNR. Once DNR determines the applications are complete, they will advise the mining company, which has said it doesn't want the application adjudicated at this time, Crawford said.
Even if accepted as complete at this point, "the applications don't give us the right to use any of the water today," Thiessen said in an interview. "They will be heard and adjudicated with the mine development permits," which won't be applied for until at least 2008, Thiessen said.
The adjudication process involves looking at hydrological information and determining if the mine can justify the need for the amount of water requested, Crawford said.
"We are simply trying to protect the opportunity, should we get a permit (to mine) some day in the future," Thiessen said.
Excitement and protests against the mine heightened in August, when Northern Dynasty announced new core samples confirmed that Pebble East was a high-grade porphyry deposit with potential for high-volume, underground mining.
Five Alaska Native groups in Bristol Bay asked DNR to put a five-year moratorium on accepting applications for water withdrawals, diversions and impoundments for large mining projects in the Bristol Bay watershed.
Crawford addressed the concerns of the five Alaska Native councils in a letter of Sept. 14, in which he said DNR shared their concerns about development of the Pebble project, and potentially other yet undefined future mines in the Bristol Bay region.
On Sept. 25, Lake and Peninsula Borough Mayor Glen Alsworth Sr. asked the state to suspend processing applications submitted by Northern Dynasty to construct tailings dams within the Koktuli River drainage. Alsworth said the proposed dams, which would eventually merge to become a large single dam, posed a risk to downstream resources.
"Dams of this size should not be authorized based on the engineering expertise typically available for Alaskan dams," Alsworth said. "I recommend that a design review board of national experts consider the design and risk assessments before any decision is made to authorize these structures."
In an amicus brief filed Sept. 19 with the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, attorneys for the New Stuyahok Traditional Council also protested water rights for Northern Dynasty.
The brief was critical of Coeur Alaska's plans to put mine tailings into a lake in the Juneau area, a situation that could set a precedent to allow mine tailings in the headwaters of the Nushagak River during the Pebble project. "Such a tailings facility would destroy not only the lake and river in which its placement is proposed, it would threaten downstream areas, communities and economies as well," the brief said.
Thiessen argued that the application for water rights permits did not mean that the mine would even eventually use the water; that they just wanted to protect the option. "There are 50 different tailings sites that could be selected," he said. "We chose this area because we do not directly impact any salmon spawning areas. If we go with underground mine development, the amount of water generated would be much less."
Margaret Bauman can be reached at margie.bauman@alaskajournal.com.
