Former Alaska Fish and Game Commissioner Frank Rue hit the nail on the head in this May 22, 2026 Juneau Empire op-ed calling upon British Columbia to “Clean up yesterday’s mine before permitting tomorrow’s.” This with regard to BC moving forward with the permitting review process for the proposed New Polaris mine in the lower Taku while, just two and a half miles away, the infamous abandoned Tulsequah Chief mine continues discharging acid and toxic metals wastewater into the

RWB’s Taku Campaigner Kayla Heidenreich had an op-ed (linked below) published in the Juneau Empire recently. Unfortunately its title – MAYBE THE NEWS IS "NO NEW NEWS" – pretty well sums up the very slow progress we’re seeing from British Columbia government toward making the long promised Tulsequah Chief mine cleanup happen. But if only extremely slowly, work toward the remediation is moving in the right direction. We’ll keep doing all we can to press for action. My Turn:

John Morris Sr., highly respected community leader and elder of the Douglas Indian Association, has been a strong and stalwart voice for the overdue closure and cleanup of the Taku’s infamous Tulsequah Chief mine for many years. John’s long time and very personal connection with the Taku make his perspective particularly powerful. Read his op-ed in the Juneau Empire from earlier this year: Clean up the Tulsequah Chief mine before considering more mining in the Taku Watersh

The Anchorage Daily News editorial by RWB’s Brian Lynch is about the KSM mine proposal targeting Unuk and Nass headwaters in the southern Alaska – British Columbia transboundary region. KSM would be one of the largest and most technically daunting mine projects ever attempted anywhere. For years we have been pointing out that this Canadian proposal – mostly about gold as opposed to the critical minerals it touts – has not been getting the rigorous environmental scrutiny by

The Boundary Waters Treaty between the U.S. and Canada calls for International Joint Commission (IJC) engagement to safeguard water quality in river systems shared by the two countries. As RWB’s Brian Lynch states in this op-ed, with the prospect of more mining looming over its headwaters, the southern transboundary Unuk watershed could use that IJC oversight now, along with a meaningful assessment of cumulative environmental impacts and the risks mining poses to another wor

Earlier this month, the Anchorage Daily News published a strong Taku and transboundary watershed conservation op-ed by Juneau resident and Rivers Without Borders steering committee member, Frank Rue. While new mining projects continue to develop in the transboundary region without adequate mining policy in place in BC, the Tulsequah Chief mine continues to discharge toxic wastewater into the Taku River watershed unabated and for nearly 70 years. Given the lack of protection o

As British Columbia government continues to only very slowly move in the right direction toward getting Tulsequah Chief pollution of the Taku – sixty-six years of it and counting – ended with the closure and cleanup of the notorious mine, impatience grows, especially downstream. This Alaska commercial fishermen’s editorial in the Juneau Empire summarizes frustrations well, especially with the BC Mines Ministry initiating the permitting process for a potential new lower Taku m

The Petersburg Pilot published a 5/4/23 editorial that summarizes the situation with the Taku watershed’s Tulsequah Chief mine. British Columbia’s mines ministry continues to move in the right direction toward finally getting the notorious abandoned mine that has been polluting the Taku for decades closed and cleaned up, but it’s doing so at a slow pace. The editorial asks the State of Alaska, bearing the downstream toxic consequences of this pollution, to in turn step up i

A Rivers Without Borders editorial in the Juneau Empire calls on Alaska officials to step up pressure on British Columbia to get moving on the long awaited Tulsequah Chief cleanup. As the editorial states, now into year sixty-six of its continuous degradation of the southeast Alaska transboundary region’s top salmon producing river system, and eight years since BC declared the situation unacceptable, the infamous abandoned mine’s pollution of the Taku persists. Indeed, as n

Revered Canadian scientist and environmental activist, Dr. David Suzuki has added his voice to many others calling upon British Columbia for action on the long awaited Tulsequah Chief closure and clean up. As he says in a June 1 editorial in The Province, "while B.C. seems prepared to do the right thing, little is happening." Like others, he is calling for immediate action in order to protect the ecological and cultural values that make the Taku watershed so special. He remi

Rivers Without Borders Alaska Campaign Director Chris Zimmer's recent letter to the Ketchikan Daily News provides a good summary of progress toward the Tulsequah Chief mine remediation, and why it is so crucial for the Taku. “After more than 60 years of pollution and decades of controversy, B.C. is taking steps to clean up and close down the Tulsequah Chief. But, the job is not near done. Alaska leaders need to continue the pressure on B.C. and Canada that has finally had som

Since its beginnings in 1980, B.C. Rivers Day has become Canada's largest river-appreciation event. In 2005, using the B.C. celebration as a template, we worked with the United Nations to create World Rivers Day, which now takes place in more than 70 countries worldwide. Our province has been a leader in honouring rivers. It should also be a leader in protecting them. But on each of B.C.'s 40 consecutive Rivers Day celebrations, a remote mine in the province's northwest has b

For the past year, the province of British Columbia has been working on a plan to clean up the infamous, dormant Tulsequah Chief mine and end pollution that has been flowing from it for 60 years into the Taku watershed. That plan cannot come soon enough. It's estimated that over 400 million litres of acid mine drainage leach from the abandoned Tulsequah Chief every year. The Taku is one of the Pacific coast's most beautiful and biologically rich watersheds. It deserves a plan

Respected Douglas Indian Association elder and tribal leader John Morris' November 20 Juneau Empire op-ed states his deep and profound connection to the Taku watershed and his hope that initial steps we're seeing by British Columbia toward resolution of the Tulsequah Chief pollution issue will be carried through. John shares our optimism about the process so far, as well as our concerns that serious unresolved issues still stand in the way of a new day for the Taku and the in