March 19, 2023 — Southeast Alaska lawmakers are joining tribal and municipal governments, calling on the federal government to stop – at least temporarily – British Columbia’s mining activities in transboundary watersheds.
Southeast Alaska’s major river systems – the Taku, Unuk and Stikine – originate in British Columbia. Those transboundary watersheds are peppered with mineral claims, active mines and shuttered former mining operations.
How the mines are regulated and cleaned up has long been a point of concern and tension across the international border. Recent studies have shown wide-ranging impacts from mines hundreds of miles downstream.
At a press conference March 8, Ketchikan independent Rep. Dan Ortiz explained one mine cleanup in particular has been in question since he was a freshman legislator – the Tulsequah Chief mine on the Taku.
“They said they were gonna get right on it. And that was over eight years ago,” Ortiz stated.
After meeting with two British Columbia government officials – Acting Deputy Minister Laurel Nash from the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Andrew Rollo, Acting Assistant Deputy Minister of Mines Health, Safety and Enforcement – Alaska legislators announced they were calling on the U.S. to intervene.