JUNEAU -- Top Canadian environmental officials have rejected calls from Southeast Alaska for a new, more thorough environmental review of a mine that may threaten jointly targeted salmon stocks.
The massive Kerr-Sulphurets-Mitchell mine being developed by Seabridge Gold already won approval from the province of British Columbia, but Alaskans, with fishing, Native and environmental groups leading the way, called for a more stringent "panel review" at the Canadian federal level.
But Friday, Canada's environment minister and other officials announced they'd concluded that no further review was necessary.
The KSM mine "is not likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects when the mitigation measures described in the Comprehensive Study Report are taken into account," the environmental assessment decision announced Friday said.
Fears that multiple mines in British Columbia, with KSM the nearest, would threaten Alaska fisheries and the environment were highlighted when Imperial Metals' Mount Polley mine tailings dam breached in August, spilling millions of gallons of waste rock and water into tributaries of the salmon-rich Fraser River in southern B.C.
"Mount Polley was a wake-up call for us. We can't let Alaska waters be polluted by B.C. mine waste," said Carrie James, co-chair of the United Tribal Transboundary Mining Working Group. She is also treasurer of the Ketchikan Indian Association.
The KSM development straddles two watersheds, including that of the salmon-producing Unuk River. The Alaska fears include acid drainage and metal contamination from mining operations, as well as that a huge tailings dam may fail at some point in the mine's 50-plus years of operations.
The KSM mine is smaller in most respects than Southwest Alaska's Pebble Partnership Project but is the largest of a half-dozen mines proposed for northern British Columbia that have raised concerns in Alaska.
Chris Zimmer of Rivers Without Borders in Juneau says he has studied the KSM proposal in detail and warns that Canadian regulators are putting too much confidence in the company's ability to treat torrents of water that would need to be cleaned of pollutants and the ability of provincial environmental officials to ensure laws are followed.
"There's no guarantee the untested and unprecedented water treatment system will work," he said.
"The stakes are too high to simply assume a mine of this size, with such massive long-term water-treatment needs, and with such huge amounts of toxic waste to contain, can be operated without polluting water and salmon habitat," Zimmer said.
Seabridge Gold offices in British Columbia were not accepting phone calls Friday, and messages left at Seabridge's corporate headquarters in Toronto after business hours were not returned.
Alaska officials had yet to review the Canadian approval announcement Friday.
While numerous Alaska groups had sought a full panel review and expressed doubts about the adequacy of British Columbia environmental regulations, the state of Alaska did not join in those calls.
A formal comment on KSM from the Department of Natural Resources' Kyle Moselle said the state had been involved in the monitoring process and called the Canadian regulatory system "thorough and rigorous."
While more information was needed, Moselle said, the permitting process could be expected to provide those additional details.
The opposition groups said they intended to continue to seek to protect Alaska interests through whatever means available, including the involvement of the Alaska congressional delegation, the U.S. State Department and new Gov. Bill Walker.