Proposed development of a huge copper, gold and molybdenum deposit in the Bristol Bay region is drawing increasing fire, protests that developers say are blatantly unfair.
Leaders of 13 Bristol Bay Native corporations asked Aug. 21 that state and federal leaders create a multi-million-acre fish and wildlife resource area in the region and oppose the proposed Pebble Mine and any Bristol Bay Mining District.
The demand came on the heels of the third annual meeting of Nunumta Aulukestai (Caretakers of Our Land), an association of Native corporations from throughout Bristol Bay.
“Our fish and wildlife are the real gold mine in this region,” said Bobby Andrew, president of Alegenik Natives Ltd. and a member of Nunumta Aulukestai.
The Bristol Bay region, lush with wildlife and prized as a sports fishing paradise by anglers, is also economically critical to the commercial fishing industry, owners of luxury hunting and fishing lodges, and families who have lived a subsistence lifestyle there for thousands of years.
“This meeting was unprecedented,” Andrew said. “Never before have Bristol Bay tribes and corporations come together on their own to address a common threat and develop strong solutions. This meeting is a watershed event.”
Nunumta Aulukestai is an association of eight Bristol Bay Native corporations representing hundreds of Alaska Natives. On Aug. 19 the association passed a resolution stating strong support for permanently protecting millions of acres of Bureau of Land Management land in Bristol Bay from hard-rock mining.
“These lands, which are currently protected and closed to mining, are critical for subsistence activities for residents of Native communities throughout the region,” the association said.
Not so, said Bruce Jenkins, chief operating officer for the Pebble project for Northern Dynasty Mines. “It’s way premature for groups to be reaching conclusions that this is a bad project before all the facts are on the table,” said Jenkins, in a telephone interview from Vancouver, British Columbia.
By the end of this year, Northern Dynasty will have spent more than $110 million on this project, in good faith, in response to this being state land for mineral development, Jenkins said. “The state lands we are on are designated for mineral exploration and development,” he said.
Robert Dickinson, chairman of Hunter-Dickinson Inc., the parent firm of Northern Dynasty, told the Resource Development Council of Alaska in Anchorage June 13 that the economic potential of the mine is significant, given growing worldwide demand for copper.
Jenkins said the Bristol Bay management plan went through a two-year public review process, which was published in 2005. The revised plan referred to the Pebble project more than 25 times, talked about the significance of the deposit and large-mine opportunities, he said.
During the public review process leading to that report, there were no interventions from the current protesters asking for wildlife and fisheries preserves, he said.
“It sounds to me like it is a little late to suggest that the plan should be undone because now they realize that Pebble is the project with real opportunities,” Jenkins said. “It’s wrong, it’s compromising due process, and it is blatantly unfair.”
According to Jenkins, Northern Dynasty was aware that Nunumta Aulukestai had scheduled a meeting and asked to attend, but was denied that opportunity. “We were told we were not welcome,” he said.
The millions of dollars spent by Northern Dynasty aside, Alaska Native elders see a halt in mining development not as a loss of investment funds, but as a necessity to save their culture and tradition of subsistence lifestyles.
Members of Nunumta Aulukestai said the BLM ignored thousands of requests to protect these lands in late 2005.
“Generations of my family have been hunting and fishing on these lands,” said Luki Akelkok, of Ekwok, chairman of Nunumta Aulukestai. “I want my kids to be able to hunt and fish, continue the subsistence way of life on these lands, and they should not be open to mining. The two do not go together.”
“These lands are far more important for traditional subsistence use rather than mining, because our animals need a vast area to feed and survive,” said Herman Nelson, president of Koliganek Natives Ltd. and New Koliganek Village Council. “We want to keep these lands open for subsistence needs from generation to generation.”
In a related action, five of the Bristol Bay tribes also have asked the Alaska Department of Natural Resources to put a 5-year moratorium on accepting applications for water withdrawals, diversions and impoundments for large mining projects in the Bristol Bay watershed. Their action came in response to Northern Dynasty’s water rights application, submitted to the state July 7.
They also asked that the state protect fish and wildlife areas in the Nushagak-Mulchatna and Kvichak drainages, including the areas impacted by Northern Dynasty’s water rights applications. Those drainages feed into Bristol Bay, the world’s richest salmon fishery.
Over the years, commercial, subsistence and sport fishermen have harvested millions of pounds of salmon from the bay and its drainages. The commercial fishery alone offers thousands of jobs to fishermen and processing entities and contributes substantially to the economy of Alaska.
Many fishermen are concerned that pollution from the proposed Pebble mine could negatively impact commercial, sport and subsistence fisheries. They are also concerned that Pebble is just the tip of the iceberg in mining interests and that ultimately fisheries, and with them the Bristol Bay lifestyle, will disappear.
The association is seeking further support from Alaska’s congressional delegation. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, has already voiced his opposition to Pebble.
All of this, Jenkins said, is premature and unfair.
“I welcome questions and concerns about the project,” he said. “We have been soliciting that for three years now, and I think that is healthy. But it is wrong to try to deny due process.”
Margaret Bauman is a reporter for the Alaska Journal of Commerce. She can be reached at margie.bauman@ alaskajournal.com.
