Threatened Alaska River Deserves Protection 4-3-2010
gengberg May 3rd, 2010
Anchorage Daily News
Threatened Koktuli River deserves protection
By TIM BRISTOL
(05/02/10 19:36:54)
Some places deserve special protection based on their remoteness and remarkable qualities; the Koktuli River in Southwest Alaska is among these places. Unfortunately and somewhat ironically, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation seems to disagree.
Located just north of Lake Iliamna, the north and south forks of the Koktuli River meander through a beautiful area of tundra, rolling hills, small lakes and ponds. The two forks eventually join and flow northwesterly to the Mulchatna River. The Mulchatna in turn flows into the Nushagak River, Alaska’s largest producer of king salmon, and then out to Bristol Bay. The Koktuli may be small in stature but it connects to larger systems, serving as a headwater source of clean water and critical spawning habitat for the world’s most productive wild salmon fishery
The Koktuli supports more than a dozen species of fish, including five Pacific salmon species. The river’s remote nature, pure water and high-quality habitat is an important contributor to the enormous salmon runs that return to Bristol Bay every year. The Koktuli is also an important source of food, culture, recreation and income for many Alaskans.
In February, Trout Unlimited, along with area-based businesses, conservation groups, tribes, village corporations and commercial fishermen, asked DEC to designate the Koktuli as an Outstanding National Resource Water (ONRW), a ranking under the Clean Water Act that gives a river’s water the highest possible level of protection. By designating a river or stream as an ONRW, an agency is saying no new or increased pollution discharges can occur within that body of water.
The Koktuli deserves such status because it is one of Alaska’s most threatened waterways. The river lies adjacent to the Pebble copper and gold deposit that developers want to turn into a gigantic sulfide mine. According to documents submitted to the state, millions of gallons of water could be sucked from the Koktuli daily. And as is almost always the case with large-scale mining operations, pollution would find its way into the Koktuli
DEC recently rejected our nomination, arguing in essence that the agency cannot grant the Koktuli the highest-level protection until miners apply for a permit to pollute it. Incredibly, DEC states in its rejection letter that it would be “premature” to protect the Koktuli before it receives pollution discharge permit applications from the Pebble Partnership or another mining company.
Our question to DEC is: Why wait to conserve a natural resource until it is facing an imminent threat? Refusing to safeguard the Koktuli’s pristine and vitally important water quality because no one has petitioned to pollute it yet is the exactly the kind of response that calls into question the ability of state agencies to protect renewable resources in Bristol Bay.
Clearly in the case of the Koktuli, the DEC blew it. Large-scale metal mines have a documented history of polluting nearby rivers, lakes and groundwater. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, more than 70 percent of mines in the United States have caused pollution by violating water quality standards. In some places, including Alaska, the amount of pollution associated with mining operations falls within acceptable levels. But Pebble will be bigger — much bigger — than other Alaska mines and it will likely be dirtier. And when you’re talking about the headwaters of Alaska’s greatest salmon runs, the margin for error is narrower than in other locations.
Besides, the problems at Pebble have already begun. In February, the same month Trout Unlimited asked for ONRW status for the Koktuli, the state fined the Pebble Partnership $45,000 for illegally drilling and taking water from outside the boundaries of its exploration permits. Some of these illegal sites lay along the Koktuli. It turns out Pebble was violating its very first permits and did so for years before close analysis by outside parties, not state officials, identified the problem.
ONRW protection for the Koktuli is the conservative, common-sense approach for this crucial headwater river. We urge ADEC to initiate a process now that will allow it protect the Koktuli before it’s too late.
Tim Bristol is the director of Trout Unlimited’s Alaska Program.
Paula Dobbyn
Trout Unlimited Alaska
907-230-1513
pdobbyn@tu.org
