Tribes Rally for Protection of Water from Mining Activity

By Hal Shepherd

The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race celebrates the beautiful wild areas of Alaska, including the final leg of the race, which runs along Alaska’s western coast. This year, Indigenous advocates from Elim and Nome are using the historic race to draw attention to threats to this incredible ecosystem and the food and livelihoods it provides.

The Elim Students Against Uranium and the Sacred Kiglauit, with the support of Native Movement, Alaska Community Action on Toxics, The Northern Center & the Norton Bay Watershed Council will hold a series of demonstrations during the Iditarod from March 1 – 9. The events are intended to call attention to proposed mining activity in the headwaters of the Tubutulik River and Imuruk Basin Watersheds within the traditional territories of the Native Villages of Elim, Teller, Mary’s Igloo and Brevig Mission (Tribes).

Artwork by Dustin Newman

Two Canadian-owned mining companies have been conducting exploration for hard rock minerals in the culturally significant and biologically rich watersheds. Panther Minerals Inc. recently began exploring for uranium at the headwaters of the Tubutulik River Watershed about 100 miles east of Nome. Similarly, the Graphite One Mine is in the feasibility study phase of a major graphite mine that would be located at the base of the sacred Kigluiak Mountains in the Imuruk Basin, boasting the largest known graphite deposit in the United States.

For years, the Tribes have been unified against any mining activity in these critical watersheds because of the impacts on subsistence and cultural resources and local communities, the amount of water usage required for drilling to extract and process ore, the lack of public input for permitting, the failure of the state or the federal government to engage in government-to-government consultation with the affected Federally Recognized tribes and acknowledge laws requiring that subsistence take priority over mineral exploration or extraction.

In addition, while the Alaska Department of Natural Resources (ADNR) consistently maintains that water withdrawals associated with mining exploration will not have significant impacts on fish and wildlife habitat, this ignores that fact that the agency consistently issues Temporary Water Use Authorizations (TWUAs) to mining companies that use enormous amounts of water. Under one such TWUA, for example, ADNR has authorized Panther Minerals to pump 10.9 million gallons of water each summer for five years from four streams in the headwaters of the Tubutulik River from June through October. In addition, DNR consistently re-issues TWUAs to Graphite One, authorizing the company to pump up to 65,000 gallons per day from small salmon streams during the summer months.

Yet ADNR completely ignores the impacts of TWUAs by refusing to consider concerns regarding TWUAs during the permitting decision because they “are considered outside the scope of this land use permit adjudication.”^[1] TWUAs, however, do not go through public notice because they are “at will” authorizations, while the permit applications are typically subject to “Agency Review.”^[2] In this way, DNR has conveniently made it possible to make a determination that there will be no impacts to fish and wildlife from mining applications, including from essential water withdrawals by separating out the process for review of TWUAs from the adjudication of the permit application. Worse, the separate process for review and approval of the TWUA is completely shielded from public review.

Salmon need cold water to survive at every life stage. Returning many miles up streams to spawning areas, fish can run into trouble if the water temperature is over 59°F. Initially, they become susceptible to diseases and exposure to toxins, and their metabolisms, which are already high, can accelerate. When water temperature goes up oxygen levels decrease just when salmon need more oxygen because the higher temperatures elevate their metabolism and respiration demands. If temperatures keep rising, the fish’s blood is unable to carry enough oxygen and they can die of a heart attack.

In fact, June 2019, the Tubutulik River, near the proposed Panther Minerals exploration site had record high temperatures at the Vulcan Creek gage site 30 miles from the mouth; hundreds of otherwise healthy (not spawned out) fish including pink and chum salmon and white fish died. Because water withdrawals from mining can substantially reduce instream flows needed for fish and wildlife and combined with increased temperatures from climate change the TWUA process increases water temperatures to levels that can be harmful to salmon.

Panther Minerals representative David Hederly Smith illustrates the enormous impact the planned future uranium mine will have on sensitive subsistence resources by stating, “It could be the largest uranium deposit, or, you know, cluster of deposits on American soil and a bunch of these could be land on the Elim native reserve. Elim could become the 'Uranium Capital of America'."^[3] Similarly, the proposed Graphite One Mine, with the help of a hefty grant from the U.S. Department of Defense, has plans to build a mile-wide open pit Graphite Mine in the pristine and sacred Kigluiak Mountain range and to possibly expand beyond the original mine footprint.

Emily Murray, Vice President of the Norton Bay Watershed Council and resident of the Native Village of Elim says of the mine,

We are defined by economists as a ‘subsistence economy with a cash over-lay.’ This new mining company plans to expand their exploration activities even beyond those of the original ones. Turning our river into a uranium mining district will completely destroy our way of life.

Join us in person to say, “Stop Destructive Mines: Protect Norton Sound”! Here are some opportunities across the state:

ANCHORAGE (Iditarod Ceremonial Start)

Art Build:

• Time/ date: February 28, 5-7 pm

• Location: ACAT office 1225 E International airport road, suite 220

• Snacks & art materials will be provided

Rally/ Sign holding:

• Time/ date: March 1, 9:30 - 10:30 am

• Location: Iditarod Ceremonial Start - 4th Ave and Cordova

FAIRBANKS (Official Race Start)

Art Build:

• Time/date: February 27th, 5:30-7:30pm

• Location: Dena' Movement Commons, 526 Gaffney Road, # 204

• Snacks & art materials will be provided

Rally/ Sign Holding:

Time/date: March 3rd, 11:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m.

Location: Race restart, Pike’s Landing, 4438 Airport Way

ELIM:

Art Build:

• Time/date: March 7th, 1:30 pm

• Location: Aniguiin School Library

Rally/ Sign Holding:

• Time: TBD (when Iditarod mushers arrive)

• Location: Along Race Route

NOME:

Art Build:

• Time/date: February 28th, 5:00 - 7:30 PM

• Location: Mini Convention Center

Rally/ Sign Holding:

• Time: TBD (when Iditarod mushers arrive)

• Location: Along Race Route

Together we can use the Iditarod as an opportunity to bring attention to vitally important areas under threat from mining.

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^[1] See e.g., Attachment A: F20249828 Public Comments and Responses, 3. Issue Topic: Potential Impact to Resources and Uses p. 2 (Public Comments and Responses).

^[2] Henry C. Brooks, Natural Resource Manager II, Water Management Unit E-mail to Hal Shepherd (October 17, 2024)

^[3] Ben Townsend, Boulder Creek Claim Owner Speaks Out on Prospect of Uranium Mine, KNOM (May 29, 2024).

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