Legislature passed April 6 by the House Special Committee on Fisheries urges protection of fish habitat in Southeast Alaska waterways from mine development and operation upstream in British Columbia.
The next stop for House Joint Resolution 9, sponsored by Rep. Dan Ortiz, I-Ketchikan, would be the House Resources Committee, where it was to be heard on April 10.
The measure urges the federal governments of the U.S. and Canada to investigate long-term, region-wide downstream effects of proposed and existing industrial development and to develop measures to ensure that Alaska resources are not harmed by upstream development in British Columbia.
Proposed mines in the transboundary area include Tulsequah Chief, New Polaris and Big Bill in the Taku River watershed; Galore Creek, Red Chris and Schaft Creek in Stikine watershed and the Kerr-Sulphurets-Mitchell project in the headwaters of the Unuk River.
Co-sponsors are Representatives Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, D-Sitka; Chris Tuck, D-Anchorage, Geran Tarr, D-Anchorage and Justin Parish, D-Juneau.
The resolution notes that commercial fishermen, subsistence and recreational users, along with elected leaders, local communities and Alaska Native and First Nation tribes on both sides of the Alaska-Canada border, have raised concerns about the pace and scope of the proposed industrial development in the headwaters of the transboundary river systems and the potential for harm to water quality, fish and wildlife, plus the socio-economic sustainability of local communities.
