The Renewable Resources Coalition's
Weekly News Updates

Week of December 20, 2006:

Quote of the Week:
“Clean water is the most important resource in our lives. We in Alaska have the best, cleanest water in the world. The second most important resource is nutritious food. We in Alaska have the best, most nutritious fish in the world, the most excellent source of protein and omega-3 fatty acids. We're on top of the world.”
-Dorothy Lazar, Anchorage

“Chief operating officer Bruce Jenkins, in his best Elmer Gantry style, has convinced a lot of people that this is a wonderful thing and would enrich everyone's lives here at the lake, but the end result is a disaster waiting to happen”
-Jim Tilly, Pope Vannoy Landing

Note: To learn more about Elmer Gantry, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmer_gantry

Tip of the Week
Here is the state blog in which to suggest ideas for Gov. Palin’s transition team. See esp. “Environmental Conservation” tab http://gov.state.ak.us/transition_ideas.php

TODAY’S TOP STORY
What a difference a citizen can make
'Proposal 121' rallies Bay fishing community
By Dustin Solberg
The Bristol BayTimes
December 14, 2005

From his seat in a sea of metal folding chairs here, George Matz, citizen, does not stand out.He is just one of about 200 people who showed up for several days worth of discussions about the rules governing the Bristol Bay fishery.

Yet single handedly,Matz shaped the tenor of the Alaska Board of Fisheries meeting when he sat down at his home computer a few months ago and fleshed out an idea: the creation of a state fish refuge in the very waters flowing through the region's mineralrich headwaters.

The retired state budget analyst typed it in the lingo of legislative matters, printed out a copy and mailed it to Juneau with a 39-cent stamp.

"I threw the first snowball that caused the avalanche. All I had was a good idea," Matz said during a pause in the meeting in the middle school gymnasium.

It seems that many agreed with him. No matter in the book of proposals under consideration garnered as much attention; and most of it was favorable.

Matz's idea, known as "Proposal 121," asks the board to recommend that the Alaska legislature create a state fish refuge encompassing the waters of Lower Talarik Creek, Upper Talarik Creek and the Koktuli River.

All of these salmon-spawning streams are in close proximity to the proposed Pebble copper and gold mine. Known as simply "the Pebble," it has become a household word in the Bristol Bay region, Alaska and, increasingly, the nation.

If the project is built, it will include an open-pit mine and tailings dams several miles in length. One dam could reach more than 700-feet high. The very idea of a mine of such massive scale signifies a new era in industrial development in Alaska. The project has drawn the ire of many of the region's beleaguered commercial salmon fishers, who fear a decline in a generally healthy wild salmon fishery.

The Board of Fisheries meets once every three years to consider changes to the rulebook covering the state's fisheries, including Bristol Bay. At the end of two weeks of meetings, it will have heard comments on 122 proposals to change specific rules pertaining to sportfishing, subsistence, and commercial fishing.

Proposal 121 was unique in that it did not directly address the dayto-day operation of the fishery.

Matz does not fish in Bristol Bay waters, though he and his wife are anglers with a freezer full of fish.

Matz does understand the board process very well, having once served on the state's Board of Game, which oversees game-hunting regulations. The board process allows the democratic decisionmaking process to filter closer to the populace, allowing engaged citizens to suggest policy changes. "Number one, it's an example of democracy," he said.

The fish refuge has had its critics, of course. The Vancouver, British Columbia-based junior mining company, Northern Dynasty Mines Inc., owns the massive mineral deposit. It dispatched a handful of its staff to argue against the refuge and also set up a camera to record the proceedings in their entirety.

Representatives of groups such as Trout Unlimited and the Renewable Resources Coalition also marshaled their numbers to speak on behalf of the refuge.

Early in the proceedings, Hans Nicholson suggested the refuge encompass all of the Bristol Bay headwaters streams. Nicholson chairs the Nushagak Advisory Committee.

"It's a headwaters that we need to protect," said Peter Pan Fisheries president Norman Van Vector, during a big-screen presentation that compared the size of some components of the Pebble project to landmarks such as the Seattle Space Needle and Hoover Dam.

That support for the fish refuge wasn't universal. James Lamont Sr., of Newhalen, a Northern Dynasty employee, said the mine brings the jobs necessary in a region where many are dependent on government assistance to help pay for the basic cost of living.

The company has also said the region's streams don't need additional protection - state law is already sufficient.

Matz said the creation of a state refuge gives more oversight to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and diminishes the responsibility of the state's Department of Natural Resources in fisheries matters. That's appropriate, he said, because the DNR has a relationship with the mining industry that he characterizes as too symbiotic. The public's reception of Proposal 121 is proof, he said, that the existing, streamlined decisionmaking process doesn't allow for sufficient public input.

The state, in fact, promotes its "streamlined" permitting process to prospective investors in mining projects in the state. "The process is broken," Matz said. "Streamlining is a euphemism for taking the bite out of things. If the state goes too far in streamlining, there is a backlash."

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Proposed mine could have dreadful impact
By Charlie Meyers
Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 12/19/2006 09:38:56 PM MST

As the eagle flies, it's approximately 2,500 miles from Colorado to the abundant fishing rivers of Alaska's Bristol Bay, a long cast by any stretch of the imagination.

Yet what is being proposed in this faraway place by Northern Dynasty Mines Inc., with the apparent complicity of the Bureau of Land Management, touches the heartstrings - and fishing lines - of the millions of anglers who have been there, or who hope to someday…

For the full story, visit: http://test.denverpost.com/extremes/ci_4869166

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Democracy in natural resource management
Board process designed to sustain Alaska's fisheries
By Dustin Solberg
The Bristol BayTimes
December 14, 2006

The ideal of managing Alaska's natural resources with an eye toward longevity springs from a bit of succinct language in the state's constitution. Just how to put that innovative directive into practice, however, wasn't spelled out so clearly. So when the precursor to the Board of Fisheries met for the first time, in a room at the Loussac Library in Anchorage, there was some experimentation.

"People didn't really know what the hell to expect. Everybody was making it up as they went along," said Rupe Andrews, who attended that first board meeting.

He joined the seven-member Board of Fisheries after retiring as a fisheries biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The board has developed into an Alaskan institution since then, but it still oversees a long and slow process. In Dillingham,more than 150 people commented on changes proposed for the rules governing subsistence and commercial fishing as well as sportfishing in the Bristol Bay region.

"It is messy. It is time consuming," Andrews said. "But it's sure worth it."

The state's Board of Fisheries will meet for about two weeks in Dillingham to hear discussion on 122 proposed changes to Bristol Bay fishery policy.

This comes after

receiving hundreds of written comments from local advisory committees and from concerned citizens. It is widely acknowledged as the world's best management system of wild resources.

"We have probably the most democratic fish and game advisory body in the world," said McKie Campbell, the state's fish and game commissioner.

Central to the state's constitution is an understanding that the resource takes first priority.

It is widely acknowledged as the world's best management

"The science is run by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. When the salmon biologist speaks, that's the final word," said Clem Tillion, a longtime Republican legislator who once led the state's fisheries policy.

Discussions of who receives allocations of a fishery may be heated, but the writers of the constitution intended that decisions regarding the actual size of the harvest be free of politics.

"You only allocate what the department says is surplus. No one advocates taking more fish than the streams can produce and that's the very strength of our state system. If you err on the side of conservation you can correct it at a later date," Tillion said. "This became so ingrained in the minds of Alaskans."

The state's current natural resource policies stem from Article Eight of the 51-year-old constitution. It outlines a sustained-yield policy of managing state-owned resources such as fish, game and their resources after statehood, Alaska made provision for their protection prior to admission."

The first to carry out the state's constitutional mandate was Alaska's initial commissioner of fish and game, Clarence Anderson. The iconic Anderson, a former fisheries biologist from the University of Washington, spelled out a clear policy that set the mold for Alaska's fisheries management.

Quoting Anderson,Tillion said, "The governor has instructed me to return our salmon streams to their former abundance. I'm charging you with seeing that every salmon if you allow an under-escapement, you can expect to be fired."

His pronouncements were a radical departure from the federal fisheriesmanagement prior to statehood.

"The federal management was a total failure because they could never say no to any pressure group.Today, the people take for granted that the streams have salmon,"Tillion said.

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Board wants Habitat Division restored
REVERSAL: Fisheries panel wants agency returned to Fish and Game Department.
Anchorage Daily News
December 17, 2006

The state fisheries board wants Gov. Sarah Palin to add another item to her growing list of scratched-out Murkowski actions.

The board voted unanimously last week in Dillingham to ask Palin to return the state's Habitat Division to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

To view the full story, please click on http://www.adn.com/money/story/8499768p-8393086c.html

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Three boroughs support conditional lifting of Bristol Bay drilling ban
Alaska Journal of Commerce
Sunday, December 17, 2006

Three local governments bordering on the North Aleutian Basin say they want to lift a presidential moratorium on oil and gas development in the 8,700-square-mile area, but it's no mandate to go ahead and drill.

To view the full story, please click on http://www.alaskajournal.com/stories/121706/hom_20061217011.shtml

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Fish Come First
FlyFish News Service
December 14, 2006

Pro-salmon supporters of a fish refuge in the Bristol Bay watershed, home to the word's largest remaining salmon run, claimed victory today in Dillingham after days of public testimony ran 4-1 in favor of Alaska's first fish refuge.

To view the full story, please click on http://www.flyfish.com/newsroom/editorial.php?id=1118&Fly_Session=cf3b2df41ec3bf70daf6dc72c4127a4d

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Pebble Mine proponent digs for support
December 13, 2006
Homer News

For entertainment during the annual Share the Spirit spaghetti dinner fund-raiser and monthly Homer Chamber of Commerce luncheon, the Homer High School Swing Choir sang “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” and other holiday tunes. Santa Claus wasn’t there to listen to Northern Dynasty speaker Sean Magee’s want list, but he made his wishes clear.

To view the full story, please click on http://www.homernews.com/stories/121306/news_1a_10a002.shtml

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Short-term profits not worth loss of resources that are irreplaceable
Letter to the Editor
December 17, 2006

http://www.adn.com/opinion/letters/story/8502060p-8395365c.html

Clean water is the most important resource in our lives. We in Alaska have the best, cleanest water in the world. The second most important resource is nutritious food. We in Alaska have the best, most nutritious fish in the world, the most excellent source of protein and omega-3 fatty acids. We're on top of the world. Would historians say we were insane or merely sleeping if we allow a Canadian mining company to come and wreck our water and our great salmon beds -- permanently -- so it can walk away with its own short-term profit?

Good news, Alaska, it hasn't happened yet. Say no to the Pebble mine. Let's preserve that priceless area to feed the future of our state.

-Dorothy Lazar, Anchorage

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Northern Dynasty's pumping in cash doesn't minimize effects of tailings
Letter to the Editor
December 16, 2006

http://www.adn.com/opinion/letters/story/8496241p-8389568c.html

The Pebble mine is turning the tide of sentiment in Iliamna now by the huge amount of cash that has been pumped into the area. It's almost like everyone here has forgotten that the end result is 3 billion tons of tailings that have vile acids that are contained in the earth until a foreign company brings them to the surface.

This monumental amount of waste has the potential to completely alter not only the salmon runs but everything else that depends on them. In Cook Inlet now there's a big stink about the beluga whales and it's pretty obvious that we've got a huge amount of them here in Bristol Bay that depend on healthy salmon runs. Are brown bears, otter, mink, mergansers, belugas and everything in the ocean that feeds on salmon included in the "no net loss" promise from Northern Dynasty? Chief operating officer Bruce Jenkins, in his best Elmer Gantry style, has convinced a lot of people that this is a wonderful thing and would enrich everyone's lives here at the lake, but the end result is a disaster waiting to happen.

The salmon run, along with the prices, are on the mend and this huge pile of greed is the one thing that could destroy it. I personally know not one person who is in favor of the mine that isn't benefitting from Northern Dynasty's studies.

-Jim Tilly, Pope-Vannoy Landing

EDITOR'S NOTE: The writer is a Bristol Bay commercial fisherman.

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Palin’s Bristol Bay options include a no-brainer: Value-added fish
Letter to the Editor
December 14, 2006

http://www.adn.com/opinion/letters/story/8492392p-8385996c.html

Randy Zimin’s letter of Dec. 4 is a touching plea for wages but a logical disaster in its assumption that the only economic choices for Bristol Bay are mining or abject poverty (“Governor needs to take positive stance toward mining in Southwest”). Does he really believe that if he can’t find work as a miner, food will be taken from his family’s table and his livelihood will depend on welfare checks from the “fine folks in the city”?

Fortunately, Gov. Palin has at least one other choice that will successfully compete with the mine for income. That choice preserves the traditions in the area and allows — in fact, requires — that Bristol Bay’s land and water remain wild and clean. The choice is a simple no-brainer: Develop and market value-added fish products from Bristol Bay that will sell for premium prices to wealthy American and overseas consumers.

Smoked salmon, canned kippered salmon, lox, gravlax, botargo and pickled salmon are examples of these high-priced value-added products; preparing and marketing them will easily compete with the mine for employment. Furthermore, the employers would be American companies, taxed in Alaska. The raw materials for these products will last as long as the fish; demand for them will last as long as the markets for gourmet treats, and their value will increase as the rest of the world becomes more polluted.

-Rob Lund, Homer