B.C. judge blocks mine along salmon-heavy riverA British Columbia Supreme Court judge yesterday blocked, at least temporarily, a controversial mine project along a major salmon-producing river that runs from northern British Columbia into Alaska.
The judge ruled that the provincial government failed to meaningfully consult Tlingit Indians when it approved the Tulsequah Chief Mine and construction of a lengthy access road along the Taku River.
Planned by Redfern Resources of Vancouver, the Tulsequah Chief project would be built at the site of a closed mine on a tributary of the Taku. The site is about 12 miles upstream from the U.S.-Canada border and about 40 air miles east of Juneau.
The Taku is one of a handful of wilderness rivers that carve a path through the Coast Mountains. Its estuary is in Southeast Alaska.
In her opinion, Justice Patricia Kirkpatrick wrote, "I consider that the matter should be referred back to (provincial Cabinet) ministers for reconsideration, after a revised project-committee report that meaningfully addresses the Tlingits' concerns."
U.S. officials have voiced strong doubts about the copper and gold mine, protesting that a British Columbia environmental-review panel gave U.S. agencies just 48 hours to respond to its 140-page evaluation of the project.
"The (Taku) river and its near-pristine watershed is a prolific producer of all five species of Pacific salmon," Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles wrote in a 1998 letter to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, in which he requested intervention.
The Taku is British Columbia's third-biggest salmon-producing river, but its location is such that it's fished mostly by Alaskans.
Chuck Clarke, regional administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, has questioned whether a proposed system for impounding the mine's toxic tailings would be adequate to withstand potential flooding.
"In the United States, construction of such a facility in a flood plain would not be permitted," Clarke wrote to the B.C. government.
In recent years, the Taku River has grown into a major destination for commercial wilderness-rafting operations. A crosssection of U.S. and Canadian environmental groups has campaigned for its preservation.
British Columbia's mining industry has argued that the project is economically sound and environmentally benign. It has noted as well that the province rejected a massive proposed mine and created a park in the neighboring Tatshenshini-Alsek river system.
P-I reporter Joel Connelly can be reached at 206-448-8160 or joelconnelly@seattle-pi.com