EPA RULE LIMITING MERCURY EMISSIONS FROM GOLD MINES FALLS SHORT ON PROTECTING ALASKA'S PEOPLE AND ECOSYSTEMS
By Carl Wassilie and Nikos Pastos
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently proposed a rule under the Clean Air Act to limit mercury air emissions from gold mines. While EPA is taking a positive step in moving to regulate mercury, the proposed rule does not go far enough to protect all Alaskans, including indigenous peoples’ customary and traditional lifeways, and Alaska’s water, wildlife, cultural resources and ecosystems from mercury.
This rulemaking is important to Alaska and Alaskans because of the Donlin Creek Mine Project. There is mercury associated with the gold ore at the proposed Donlin Creek Mine. This means that mining and milling can release significant amounts of mercury. Based on conservative estimates of how much mercury is in the ore at Donlin Creek, if uncontrolled, the mine will process each year ore that will contain over 20 tons of mercury. Some of this will end up in tailings, some will be captured in pollution control devices and some will be emitted to the atmosphere. Under the proposed EPA rule the mine could be permitted to emit over 3200 pounds of mercury per year just from ore pre-treatment processes, and more from other parts of the milling operation.
This is significant, especially given that 2008 Toxic Release Inventory data from the EPA indicates that only 71 pounds of mercury was emitted in Alaska that year. That means that under the proposed rule, the Donlin Creek Mine would be permitted to increase mercury air emissions in Alaska by a whopping 4,500%.
Is the EPA’s proposed limit, which is supposed to protect people and the environment from this hazardous pollutant, really protective when it allows 4,500% more mercury to enter the environment from this single source? The clear answer is “no”; the rule needs to be stronger.
Additionally, the EPA rule does not impose limits on mercury emitted from “fugitive sources” at mines, which include tailings ponds and waste rock piles. These fugitive emissions of mercury can be taken up into the atmosphere and travel for many miles. A recent study done at two Nevada gold mines indicate that nearly 20% of the total mercury may come from fugitive sources, depending on conditions.
The state and EPA are already concerned about mercury in Alaska; agencies are planning a conference in October to try to get a handle on mercury deposition and risk in the state—the Quicksilver Conference. Donlin represents the first major industrial mercury source in Alaska, and regulation of how mercury is managed at this mine is critical for assessing the associated risk.
The Donlin Creek LLC is well aware of the potential impacts to the region and Alaska from mercury emissions from its mining operations. The company has publically stated that it can capture 98% of the point source mercury emissions. However, even with emissions controls that capture 98% of mercury emissions, the mine could still emit nearly 1,000 pounds of mercury per year, over 1,000 % increase above current mercury air emissions in Alaska.
This brings up more questions: what will the mine will do with the mercury that is captured—an incredible 20-40 tons per year? How can it be stored safely on the shores of the Kuskokwim River and safely transported off-site? What are the cummulative health impacts of historic mercury and gold mines along with the current global fallout from foreign industrial resources? Who will be left with the mess? These are just a few questions that the EPA rule does not touch.
The implications of such a weak rule are clear: the EPA has failed in its duty to craft a rule that limits emissions and protects people and the environment. And unfortunately, those of us with families and friends living in the Kuskokwim River watershed will again be faced with mercury in our lakes, rivers, fish, birds and lands.
Please write to the EPA and ask them to make a rule that is protective of people and the environment. You can submit comments to a-and-rDocket@epa.gov, Attend Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2010-0239. For more information on the proposed rule, visit: http://www.epa.gov/mercury/
Nikos Pastos is a social scientist from Anchorage. He conducts research on technological disasters.
Carl Wassilie is a Yupiaq biologist. He is based in Anchorage.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010
From the Ground: BP Censoring Media, Destroying Evidence
Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/riki-ott/from-the-ground-bp-censor_b_608724.html?ir=Daily%20Brief
Written by Riki Ott, Marine toxicologist and Exxon Valdez survivor
Posted: June 11, 2010 09:18 AM
From the Ground: BP Censoring Media, Destroying Evidence
Orange Beach, Alabama -- While President Obama insists that the federal government is firmly in control of the response to BP's spill in the Gulf, people in coastal communities where I visited last week in Louisiana and Alabama know an inconvenient truth: BP -- not our president -- controls the response. In fact, people on the ground say things are out of control in the gulf.
Even worse, as my latest week of adventures illustrate, BP is using federal agencies to shield itself from public accountability.
For example, while flying on a small plane from New Orleans to Orange Beach, the pilot suddenly exclaimed, "Look at that!" The thin red line marking the federal flight restrictions of 3,000 feet over the oiled Gulf region had just jumped to include the coastal barrier islands off Alabama.
"There's only one reason for that," the pilot said. "BP doesn't want the media taking pictures of oil on the beaches. You should see the oil that's about six miles off the coast," he said grimly. We looked down at the wavy orange boom surrounding the islands below us. The pilot shook his head. "There's no way those booms are going to stop what's offshore from hitting those beaches."
BP knows this as well -- boom can only deflect oil under the calmest of sea conditions, not barricade it -- so they have stepped up their already aggressive effort to control what the public sees.
At the same time I was en route to Orange Beach, Clint Guidry with the Louisiana Shrimp Association and Dean Blanchard, who owns the largest shrimp processor in Louisiana, were in Grand Isle taking Anderson Cooper out in a small boat to see the oiled beaches. The U.S. Coast Guard held up the boat for 20 minutes - an intimidation tactic intended to stop the cameras from recording BP's damage. Luckily for Cooper and the viewing public, Dean Blanchard is not easily intimidated.
A few days later, the jig was up with the booms. Oil was making landfall in four states and even BP can't be everywhere at once. CBS 60 Minutes Australia found entire sections of boom hung up in marsh grasses two feet above the water off Venice. On the same day on the other side of Barataria Bay, Louisiana Bayoukeeper documented pools of oil and oiled pelicans inside the boom - on the supposedly protected landward side - of Queen Bess Island off Grand Isle.
With oil undisputedly hitting the beaches and the number of dead wildlife mounting, BP is switching tactics. In Orange Beach, people told me BP wouldn't let them collect carcasses. Instead, the company was raking up carcasses of oiled seabirds. "The heads separate from the bodies," one upset resident told me. "There's no way those birds are going to be autopsied. BP is destroying evidence!"
The body count of affected wildlife is crucial to prove the harm caused by the spill, and also serves as an invaluable tool to evaluate damages to public property - the dolphins, sea turtles, whales, sea birds, fish, and more, that are owned by the American public. Disappeared body counts means disappeared damages - and disappeared liability for BP. BP should not be collecting carcasses. The job should be given to NOAA, a federal agency, and volunteers, as was done during the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.
NOAA should also be conducting carcass drift studies. Only one percent of the dead sea birds made landfall in the Gulf of Alaska, for example. That means for every one bird that was found, another 99 were carried out to sea by currents. Further, NOAA should be conducting aerial surveys to look for carcasses in the offshore rips where the currents converge. That's where the carcasses will pile up--a fact we learned during the Exxon Valdez spill. Maybe that's another reason for BP's "no camera" policy and the flight restrictions.
On Saturday June _ people across America will stand up and speak out with one voice to protest BP's treatment of the Gulf, neglect for the response workers, and their response to government authority. President Obama needs to hear and see the people waving cameras and respirators. Until the media is allowed unrestricted access to the Gulf and impacted beaches, BP - not the President of United States - will remain in charge of the Gulf response.
For more information on community rallies, please visit HERE.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Proposed Resolution to the United Nations on Banning Offshore Oil and Gas Drilling
Take Action: Support a Proposed Resolution to the United Nations on Banning Offshore Oil and Gas Drilling
Hello, friends!
I hope this message finds you doing well.
I am sending you a draft of a resolution I wrote that I would like to send to the United Nations seeking a ban on offshore oil and gas drilling. The current situation in the Gulf of Mexico presents a possible teachable moment. I realize that UN resolutions are non-binding, but it is a start and may someday become a treaty. Please note that I drafted this on my own and was not called upon to write a resolution. Thus, it may take many of us to get something to the floor of the UN.
You are in receipt of this draft resolution for three reasons: (1) you are like-minded and support protecting the environment; (2) I would like your input, ideas, expertise, and comments; and (3) I would like your help in getting the draft resolution to the UN visa vie the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea or any other outlet you may think might work.
If you support it, I encourage you to replace my name with your entity’s name and re-word it to your liking . . . and submit it to anyone you feel might be able to help guide it into adoption. I put my name on it so people wouldn't be confused into thinking there was an existing resolution . . . please replace my name with your group's name if you would like to submit it to the UN.
I kept it short and sweet and tried to incorporate the requisite preambulatory and operative phrases required by the UN. If you have more knowledge or experience in drafting these types of resolutions, please take liberty in making any necessary changes.
I appreciate your assistance.
Peace,
Karlin
http://www.un.org/Depts/los/reference_files/calendar_of_meetings.htm
http://www.un.org/Depts/los/index.htm
http://www.un.org/Depts/los/reference_files/new_developments_and_recent_adds.htm
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Coal dust in Seward
The pattern of deregulation is common with all transportation of mining, oil and gas materials in Alaska; especially, when shifting companies and owners. I know that there are major auto-immune diseases in areas in Appalachia where there is Mountain Top removal for coal.
So far, the Native Corporations, State and Federal agencies have not been active (in Trust Responsibilities) at building Tribal and community capacity to gather important human health and environmental information on mining processes, including in the transportation. The only statewide organization advocating for protecting the environment and human health for Tribal Governments is Alaska Inter-Tribal Council (AITC), which now has a defunct Environmental Program due to issues of Alaska Native Corporations being recognized as Tribal Governments and conflict of interest in developing mining education projects for Alaska Village and Tribal Governments.
With the help of Western Mining Action Network, Alaska's Big Village Network, Alaska Inter-Tribal Council and KACN TV will be working on a mini-project to begin shining lights on these issues from an indigenous perspective for broadcast to villages.
Included will be information on how Tribal Governments can take action to get involved in overturning Corporate preclusion of Tribal Governments (emphasis on traditional, customary and modern use of resources.) The Tribal Governments should be receiving all applications for developments from companies (including Native Corporations) that impact all traditional, customary and modern uses of resources. Like say " a big mine that takes a lot of water from a salmon stream and discharges pollution into the watershed" where there may be multiple historic and cultural properties with modern customary use that can help future generations adapt to the changing climate. (DOI has a memo regarding 'landscape conservation' for creating adaptation to climate change).
Obama could possibly be making sweeping changes within each federal agency regarding Executive Order 13175. If Alaska Tribal Governments stand by, Alaska Native Corporations will continue to pretend that they are Tribal Governments under Ted Stevens 2004 and 2005 Appropriations Act that precluded Tribal sovereignty, self-determination and education.
Coal dust an ugly problem in scenic Seward
LAWSUIT: Groups say railroad needs to fix problem or get permit.
By MARY PEMBERTON
The Associated Press
Published: November 10th, 2009 02:00 PM
Last Modified: November 10th, 2009 09:39 PM
When the north wind blows in Seward, dust flies off a large pile of coal and covers the town's scenic boat harbor in black grit.
...
The facility was built in 1984 as a state economic development project to engage in the world coal market. The coal was transported from Healy to Seward under a contract with Suneel Alaska Corp., the purchaser of coal for the Korean market.
When Suneel ran the facility it was permitted as a coal-processing facility and was allowed under a permit to emit 87 metric tons of coal dust annually, Maddox said.
When the railroad took over, it was reclassified as a storage facility, even though nothing changed in its operation, he said. Because it's classified as a storage facility, the railroad doesn't need a coal-dust permit.
Red Dog gets setback over discharge permit
Red Dog is one of America's largest polluters according to the US EPA Toxic Release Inventories. A toxic pipeline to the Chukchi Sea isn't a great option considering the lack of biological and scientific information; including hunting, fishing and gathering impacts to indigenous peoples and migratory animals (caribou, sea mammals, fish, shellfish, plankton, whales, birds) Food Security is a growing issue for all communities on Earth as climate change and bioengineering of industrial seafood and mainland crops are proving to be unsustainable and miserably vulnerable to rapidly changing environmental conditions, including adaptive pathogens.
-----Red Dog gets setback over discharge permit
Published: March 27th, 2010 04:13 PM
Last Modified: March 27th, 2010 04:13 PM
Natives in two villages have won a battle against the world's largest zinc mine over a permit they said would have polluted a fish stream that provides food and drinking water.
The Native villages of Kivalina and Point Hope challenged the Red Dog Mine's new water-pollution-discharge permit, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has withdrawn features of the permit of concern to the villagers. The federal permit would have allowed more cyanide, zinc, selenium, lead and total dissolved solids into the Wulik River than is currently allowed, villagers said.
Enoch Adams Jr., vice president of the Native Village of Kivalina, has called the permit a "license to pollute." It was to become effective March 1.
The mining company, Teck Alaska, believed the permit worked on by the state and the EPA was sound, Jim Kulas, the company's environmental and public affairs manager, said Friday. If the permit issues can't be resolved by October, plans to shut down the mining until they are, he said.
Stopping production at the zinc, lead and silver mine near Kotzebue would have implications for Native firms, local governments and employees relying on Red Dog dollars. The mine is running out of ore in its main pit and needs federal permission to begin excavating a second pit that could keep the mine going for another 20 years.
Red Dog has struggled with its water discharges since starting up two decades ago. The mine has routinely violated some criteria within its federal water-pollution-discharge permit, resulting in fines and lawsuits. The new permit would legalize the discharges that have been problematic.
The Native villages say it's illegal for the EPA to relax the mine's previous permit.
Federal and state regulators said the changes would be OK because the mine's pollution discharges are not harmful and fish populations downstream of Red Dog have actually grown because the discharges contain a less harmful pollutants than the natural flow of water before the mine was built. The new permit would not increase the amount of pollution from the mine, they say.
After a review, the EPA decided March 17 that Teck Alaska will have to comply with more stringent levels under its 1998 permit. The agency told Mining News that it could restore the withdrawn portions of the new permit once better justification of them is developed.
Adams of Kivilina said, "Our village wants economic development but at the same time we demand that EPA protect our subsistence and clean water rights."
"The only thing we want is to be able to drink our water with some peace of mind ... and not wonder what is in the fish," he said.
Lawyer Brent Newell with the Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment in San Francisco, said Red Dog has violated its old permit hundreds of times.
The new permit would have given mine operators even more leeway, he said. Not only would it have allowed more cyanide, zinc, selenium and lead into waters downstream from the mine, but also would have drastically changed the way the mine handles total dissolved solids or wastewater from the mining operation, Newell said.
Instead of measuring total dissolved solids at the end of the pipe where the waste enters the Wulik River, Teck Alaska would have been allowed a four-mile "mixing zone" to test for pollution once it was diluted, he said.
That would have allowed high levels of dissolved solids to enter the river, an important spawning ground for fish, Newell said.
"That is really crazy," Adams said.
In 2008, five Kivalina residents reached a settlement with Teck Alaska after a lengthy court fight that established over 800 violations of the federal Clean Water Act for discharging mine waste into the Wulik River, Newell said.
The village is about 45 miles downstream from the mine.
The settlement requires Teck to either build a pipeline to discharge treated mining waste into the Chukchi Sea, instead of the river, or pay a multimillion-dollar fine.
Adams said no one wants to shut down the mine.
"The only thing that we want is for them to build the pipeline," Adams said. "We just want them to be responsible."
support for mine
At least nine organizations in the Northwest Arctic have passed resolutions in support of new permits to allow Red Dog's expansion, including the Northwest Arctic Borough and tribal governments in Noorvik, Kiana, Kotzebue and Deering.
The mine is a the major source of private tax dollars and jobs in the region.
Teck still needs to obtain a wetlands permit from the Army Corps of Engineers before it can begin excavation in the new ore deposit.
The Anchorage Daily News/adn.com contributed to this article.
Last Great Race - Arctic Uranium
by Carl WassilieElim Students and community protests Uranium exploration on Seward Peninsula along the world premier Iditarod sled dog race at the Elim checkpoint 120 miles from Nome.Funny Murray, an Inupiaq Para-professional in Elim, says that the students are leading the effort to raise awareness on the uranium’s destructive impacts to the environment, ecosystem and people. “The Elim Students Against Uranium (ESAU) researched how uranium development can cause damage to the health of the environment, plants, animals and people. They (ESAU) are speaking up for environmental justice here in Elim, the Bering Sea and the Arctic.”
Carl Wassilie, a Yup’ik biologist for Alaska’s Big Village Network, says that any industrial activity like uranium exploration can have profound impacts on the Earth's ecosystem, especially for people who continue to hunt and gather from the land and the water. One of the by-products of pulling uranium out of the Earth is radon gas, which can travel thousands of miles with a slight breeze and ‘falls out’ on the surface of the Earth into water systems, plants and animals. “Basically, people, birds, fish, caribou, moose and all animals living hundreds of miles away can get chronic and long-term exposure to radioactive fall-out that cause an array of health problems and cancer; especially vulnerable are elders, pregnant women and young children.”
“The board and staff of Alaska Community Action on Toxics stand in solidarity with the people of Elim in opposing uranium mining in the region. We believe that uranium mining poses a dire threat to the health and well-being of the community of Elim and other villages in the area. We will continue to work with them to protect the waters, lands, traditional foods, and public health.”
Since 2007, students and elders gathered for days out along the trail in Elim holding signs and giving mushers information about Triex Minerals and Full-Metal Minerals drilling operations. ESAU are leading the effort again, as the Iditarod racers, tourists and volunteers race through the friendly community that has always supported the Iditarod.
Elim IRA Council in partnership with the Center for Water Advocacy (CWA) will conduct research in relation to land, water and sovereignty rights of the Council. The CWA and the Council will work with the federal agencies on a government to-government basis to development regulatory standards and take other actions in protecting human health of the Seward Peninsula ecosystem from the impacts of uranium mining activity.In the spring of 2008, the Native Village of Elim threatened to sue the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) due to the agencies failure to provide notice or comment to the community. The BLM did not provide any information at all about the Triex and Full Metal Mineral Mining Companies’ (Companies) proposed uranium exploration activities that affected the Elim Village’s reserved lands.
The immediate purpose of this demonstration will be to call attention to the efforts of many Alaskans to prevent further impacts to the human health, subsistence and cultural life ways of the Elim Village from uranium exploration and other mining activity. The broader relevance of this is to insure that the native villages and people, who have lived in the Seward Peninsula since time immemorial, are retained, preserved and protected. The people are signifying that Alaska retains its famous cultural and environmental diversity.
Location: Alaska
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