Environmentalists Lift Appeal of Alaskan Gold Mine

FAIRBANKS, Alaska May 11, 2004 (ENS) - The Northern Alaska Environmental Center and Teck-Pogo Inc. have come to an agreement under which the Center will withdraw its appeal of the gold mine's discharge permit from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, allowing work to resume on mine construction.

The Pogo mine is being developed northwest of Delta Junction by the Canadian corporation Teck-Cominco. The company estimates it can extract 5.5 million ounces of gold worth more than $2 billion from the Goodpaster River drainage.

The agreement, reached May 5, provides that the Center will withdraw its appeal of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. In exchange, Teck-Pogo will provide additional monitoring of the Goodpaster River.

Teck-Cominco agreed to create a citizens’ advisory group to periodically review the project. A tiered monitoring system on the Goodpaster River will be evaluated twice yearly by the group. Teck will also fund a fish study on the Goodpaster River.

"This is similar to the Regional Advisory Councils I proposed for Prince William Sound and Cook Inlet after the oil spill," Governor Frank Murkowski said. The governor expressed appreciation for "the concern" shown by the Northern Alaska Environmental Center on this project, and for "their expressed support for the mine project to move forward."

Dan Adams, president of the board of directors of the Northern Alaska Environmental Center, said his group's concern is for the health of Alaskan waters. "We believe that Alaskans, as people everywhere, prefer their rivers and streams free of arsenic and other toxic chemicals - especially those deposited by foreign financial interests who are paying back little or nothing for the privilege of extracting the state's resources," he wrote on April 28.

"It is simply unacceptable that a mining company is allowed to use a stream as its unregulated private toxic waste dump."

The Center's appeal of the NPDES permit addressed how wastewater from the mine is managed to ensure that the state's rivers are not contaminated, not the location of the mine or its waste-rock facilities.

"As the state of Alaska and Teck-Cominco know full well," wrote Adams, "it is entirely possible to redirect Pogo Mine pollution away from rivers. It is standard mining industry practice to control and regulate the pollution runoff and seepage from mine waste dumps. It is done throughout the western United States, and it can be done here."

On April 19, when work was halted pending resolution of the Northern Alaska Environmental Center's appeal, more than 300 people were employed on the project, many from local Alaskan communities. Pre-construction preparation activities including road construction, are once more underway. The site is being prepared to pour concrete this spring and summer for the mill complex.

“We feel these results lay the groundwork to ensure that large mining corporations act in a responsible fashion when it comes to Alaska’s environment,” said the Center's Executive Director Arthur Hussey. "Teck-Cominco agreed to take protective measures to ensure the health of the Goodpaster drainage." Karl Hanneman, Teck-Cominco manager of public and environmental affairs, said, "The Pogo project has gone through an extensive, four year review process and the concerns raised during the review have been addressed. This project has been designed to meet the highest possible level of environmental performance."