We are pleased to report more progress toward finally getting the long polluting Tulsequah Chief mine in the Taku watershed closed and cleaned up. A no-staking reserve was put in place in the Tulsequah area, meaning private mineral rights can not be reestablished should they forfeit to the Crown. And the Canadian mining company Teck Resource is contributing $1.5 million to fund studies and site preparation activities at the mine site toward the remediation. Obviously this is just a very small piece of an expensive financial puzzle, but we appreciate the company’s action, while at the same time recognizing that Teck has a liability and responsibility based on its corporate lineage to be doing much more to bring sixty-four years of toxic acid mine drainage into the transboundary region’s top salmon producing river system to an end.
Rivers Without Borders, the Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission, and Salmon Beyond Borders issued a joint press release today outlining all of the most current details.
Read the release here.
A June 9 Narwhal article, linked here, provides excellent coverage of these developments.
