Despite
recent reports that permitting would not begin until
2008, Northern Dynasty initiated the permitting process
on July 7th with its submission of water right applications
for Upper Talarik Creek and the North and South Forks
of the Koktuli River. See
the map of their water claims.
Memorable
Quotes:
“When this began, Northern Dynasty promised
to stay out of Upper Talarik Creek, and now they’re
going back on that promise, so it’s hard for
me to believe what they’re saying anymore.”
-Jack Hobson, president of the Nondalton Tribal
Council, Kenai Peninsula Clarion, July 24, 2006.
"We made a commitment to stay out of the Upper
Talarik Creek because it is sensitive fish habitat."-Ella
Ede, Northern Dynasty, Source: “Lake Dumping
in Pebble’s Future?” Hal Spence, Kenai
Peninsula Clarion, July 5, 2005.
"'Forget it,' Jenkins said he told company
engineers. 'I said leave Upper Talarik Creek alone.''-Bruce
Jenkins, Northern Dynasty, Source: “Golden
Jitters: Massive Mine Worries Locals” Paula
Dobbyn, Anchorage Daily News. October 18th, 2004.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Villages oppose Pebble water plans
Diverting flow from important
rivers for mine not OK, groups say
By HAL SPENCE
Peninsula
Clarion
Tribal governments from Ekwok and Nondalton are
asking the state of Alaska to reject Northern Dynasty
Mines Inc.’s request to remove water from parts
of the Bristol Bay watershed.
In a press release issued Thursday, Trout Unlimited,
which last year joined a growing opposition to the
company’s Pebble Mine project northwest of
Iliamna, voiced concern over Northern Dynasty’s
application for water rights.
The application would allow the company to remove
water from Upper Talarik Creek and the north and
south forks of the Koktuli River for mining operations.
Earlier this month, NDM filed three applications
with the Alaska Department of Natural Resources
seeking water rights in watersheds surrounding its
project site. The purpose, NDM’s Web site says,
is to “reserve the future right to utilize
water within the specified areas for the purpose
of building and operating the proposed Pebble Mine
once it has been permitted.”
NDM is planning what would be one of the largest
open pit gold, copper and molybdenum mines in the
world. The Anchorage-based American company, a subsidiary
of the Canada-based Northern Dynasty Minerals Inc.,
is conducting a broad feasibility study of the mine
project in preparation for seeking state and federal
mining permits.
Mine opponents, including Richard King, Ekwok Village
Council administrator, say if NDM is granted the
water rights, the company could pump water from
the rivers and mix it with mine waste in a tailing
pond.
“Our village depends on these rivers and this
action by Northern Dynasty is a direct threat to
our culture and our way of life,” King said.
Ekwok, located along the Nushagak River, is downstream
from the proposed mine. The Koktuli feeds the Mulchatna
River, which drains into the Nushagak, well known
for its king salmon. Ekwok and Nondalton are members
of Alaska’s commercial fishing industry and
international conservation groups.
“When this began, Northern Dynasty promised
to stay out of Upper Talarik Creek, and now they’re
going back on that promise, so it’s hard for
me to believe what they’re saying anymore,”
said Jack Hobson, president of the Nondalton Tribal
Council.
The Upper Talarik is world famous for trophy rainbow
trout, Trout Unlimited said, noting the creek flows
into Lake Iliamna. The lake drains into the Kvichak
River, which reportedly has produced more than a
third of Bristol Bay’s sockeye harvest over
the past 100 years.
David Harsila, spokesperson for the Alaska Independent
Fishermen’s Association, representing about
400 Bristol Bay area fishermen, said NDM’s
request for water rights showed “the grim reality
of the need for water for mining purposes versus
the absolute requirement of the same water for our
precious salmon resource.”
“This is absolutely some of the most sensitive
fish-rearing habitat in the state,” said Norman
Van Vactor, Bristol Bay manager of Peter Pan Seafoods.
Brian Kraft, director of Trout Unlimited’s
Southwest Alaska-Bristol Bay programs, agrees.
“We’re siding with the fish and all of
those who depend on them,” he said.
Representatives of sportfishing groups have joined
Trout Unlimited in opposing the proposed water diversion,
including the International Federation of Fly Fishers.
RP Van Gytenbeek, federation president, called
the project “totally unneeded and unacceptable.”
Northern Dynasty’s application for water rights
does not mean it has secured or would soon secure
permits to build the mine. It is not expected to
apply for permits until 2007 or 2008, and permitting
likely would take another two to three years. That
period would include in-depth scrutiny by government
agencies and periods for public comment and review.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pebble project takes first permit
steps
By Layton Ehmke
Homer Tribune
July 19, 2006
Hopeful Pebble prospect developers, Northern Dynasty
Inc., applied for water rights in two rivers that
feed Bristol Bay last week.
Bruce Jenkins, Cheif Operating Officer of Northern
Dynasty, said these steps are the first of many.
"This will take sufficient engineering to
show we'll need water, so we've registered to get
into the queue," Jenkins said. "The water
permit filings are intended to be adjudicated with
the building design permits — and will not
be totally independent of one other."
These first few permits are just the tip of the
permitting iceberg for Northern Dynasty as it has
likely more than 50 to go in the total project.
"There are still many years and lots of time
for this — it's in the public, it's due process,"
Jenkins said.
Jenkins said the step into permitting has been
underway for many months, and is independent of
Rio Tinto/Kennecott's recent stock investment. Earlier
this month, the company announced it had bought
9.9 percent of the Northern Dynasty Company, a $78
million investment.
The two rivers included in the permit request,
the north and south forks of the Koktuli and the
Upper Talarik Creek, are known for fishing and flow
into one of the richest salmon fisheries on the
planet.
The Alaska Department of Natural Resources reportedly
won't act on the water rights permits until it sees
the building permits. That time is still expected
to be late 2007 or early 2008.
The prospect sits south of Lake Clark National
Park and Reserve near Mt. Iliamna across Cook Inlet
from Homer. The site would require approximately
88 miles of new road to access from the Inlet, and
would need a deep-water dock as well.
Northern Dynasty announced in 2004 that it had
plans to develop the site, and has been drilling
test holes since. The prospect reportedly contains
more than 500 million tons of high-grade starter
ore, and is a 4.1 billion-ton open-pit style deposit,
while its more recently discovered east deposit
contains at least 1.8 billion tons of deposit potential.
By the end of this year, Northern Dynasty will
have reportedly spent $111 million in Pebble prospect
advancement. Mining activity could last some 50
years.
Steve Borell, executive director of the Alaska Miners
Association, said the move toward getting the water
rights is on par with what a hopeful developer should
be doing. In fact, he was surprised Northern Dynasty
had not filed for the water rights sooner.
"This is one of the various, multiple permits
they'll be filing for," Borell said.
Considering the size and attention of the Pebble
prospect, Borell said Northern Dynasty "will
have to convince a lot of agencies that (it) won't
adversely affect the fisheries," he said. "This
is only one little piece of a massive permitting
challenge ahead of them."
Borell said that while the permits could allow
the company to use water from the watershed, it's
important to remember that those two creeks likely
won't supply the entire mine with water.
Borell said one of the multiple challenges Northern
Dynasty has is that it won't have water discharge.
"They have to design it in a way that they
won't have excess water, and control every bit of
it. You're not allowed to discharge used water,
you have to recycle all of it," Borell said.
David Banks with the Nature Conservancy in Alaska
said the general issue that rises out of the permit
idea is that with water permitting applications,
a user must prove that what is taken from a watershed
cannot adversely affect what is needed to maintain
the life within it.
"It's a great thing because it shows that
people care about fish and wildlife in Alaska. It
protects a certain amount of water in the stream,"
Banks said.
Banks said it's important to think about how interconnected
all the streams are in that area through groundwater
flow. It's a complicated system, Banks said.
"It's all a groundwater system flow in a recharge
basin. If you fly over that in the winter, there's
still water flowing there," Banks said, illustrating
how connected the streams are to groundwater.
"If you draw from one or two streams, it has
the potential to really impact all the others."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Groups seek the rejection of Pebble
applications
MINE: Company would need water if it develops the
project.
By PAULA DOBBYN
Anchorage
Daily News
Published: July 21, 2006
Fishing, conservation and Native groups on Thursday
asked state officials to reject a mining company's
application for water rights to two rivers that
feed salmon-rich Bristol Bay.
"When you talk about dewatering salmon streams,
people just freak out. And with good reason,"
said Tim Bristol, head of Trout Unlimited in Alaska.
Northern Dynasty Mines Inc. sought state approval
this week to pump water from Upper Talarik Creek
and the Koktuli River near Iliamna Lake. If the
Vancouver, British Columbia-based firm develops
the mammoth Pebble gold and copper deposit, it will
need water to treat mine waste and for other industrial
uses.
The headwaters of Talarik and Koktuli, which border
Pebble, are birthing grounds for some of Bristol
Bay's world-famous wild salmon.
The company hasn't decided yet whether to develop
Pebble but if it does it expects to apply for permits
in a year or two, Northern Dynasty executives have
said.
Groups wanting to deny the water rights include
Trout Unlimited, International Federation of Fly
Fishers, Fly Fishing Magazine, Alaska Independent
Fishermen's Marketing Association and the tribal
governments of Ekwok and Nondalton.
The Bristol Bay manager of Peter Pan Seafoods also
weighed in Thursday.
"I was somebody who initially took a middle-of-the-road
position, kind of a wait-and-see," said Norman
Van Vactor of Peter Pan, a fish processor.
"At the end of the day, I made the personal
decision to do everything I possibly could to stop"
Pebble and the potential development of a mining
district in the Bristol Bay region, he said.
Pebble's location in the headwaters of two rivers
that feed Bristol Bay makes the project unfeasible,
Van Vactor said.
"This is just not the place for a mine of
this magnitude," he said.
Dick Mylius, director of the Division of Mining,
Land and Water, said he cannot simply reject Northern
Dynasty's application for water rights. It must
be considered as part of the company's overall mine
development plan, he said.
Northern Dynasty hopes to build not only Alaska's
largest mine but North America's biggest gold and
copper mine.
Richard King, administrator of Ekwok Village Council,
said his village depends on fish that spawn in Upper
Talarik and the Koktuli. Ekwok is downstream from
the Pebble deposit.
"This action by Northern Dynasty is a direct
threat to our culture and our way of life,"
King said.
Northern Dynasty executives have urged people to
remain neutral on the project until it's designed
and engineered.
"The concerns and issues raised are legitimate,
and I welcome an open dialogue," said Bruce
Jenkins, Northern Dynasty's chief operating officer.
But that doesn't mean concerns reflect reality,
he said. And the company objects to anyone trying
to stop the process before permit applications are
on the table.
"It's wrong and anti-democratic," Jenkins
said Thursday.
Daily News reporter Paula Dobbyn can be reached
at pdobbyn@adn.com or 257-4317.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Read the Trout Unlimited Press Release in its Entirety
by Clicking
Here.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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