WHEREAS, the Tanana Chiefs Conference includes member tribes from the Yukon Flats including Arctic Village, Canyon Village, Chalkyitsik, Eagle, and Northway, which all are near the United States’ shared border with Canada; and
WHEREAS, the transboundary waterways within the Yukon River watershed include the Yukon, Draanjik, Kandik, Nation, Hard Luck, Tatonduk, Eagle Creek, O’Brien Creek, Forty Mile, and the waters within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, and the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, and have tremendous and unique ecological cultural, recreational and traditional hunting and fishing value to the Interior Indigenous peoples; and
WHEREAS, mine projects increase environmental impacts to watersheds through landscape change; and
WHEREAS, landscape change includes, but is not limited to, waste rock piles, tailings, dams, and roads; and
WHEREAS, landscape level change has shown to increase the likelihood of the release of contaminants into rivers and streams; and
WHEREAS, changes to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012 (CEAA, 2012), has weakened the environmental assessment process and enforcement within Canada, as demonstrated by the continued release of contaminates into the Taku River from the Tulsequah Chief mine; and
WHEREAS, renewed interest in gold exploration in the mining friendly Yukon Territory, which shares the Yukon River watershed with the TCC tribes listed above; and
WHEREAS, current working groups, agreements and MOU’s fail to adequately address present and future concerns due to vague language and a lack of enforcement mechanisms; and
WHEREAS, maintaining and protecting healthy wild salmon populations and cultural practices is a priority for the Tanana Chiefs Conference member tribes which depend on the watersheds for hunting, fishing, potable drinking water; and
WHEREAS, it is the responsibility of the State of Alaska to monitor water quality and quantity of rivers and streams within Alaska; and
WHEREAS, it is the responsibility of the State of Alaska to report findings of water monitoring to the people of Alaska; and
WHEREAS, it is the responsibility of the State of Alaska to enforce violations of contamination of state water ways; and
WHEREAS, it is the responsibility of the United States Federal Government to monitor water quality and quantity of rivers and streams within Federal lands; and
WHEREAS, it is the responsibility of the United States Federal Government to report findings of water monitoring to the people of the United States; and
WHEREAS, it is the responsibility of the United State Federal Government to enforce violations of the Clean Water Act; and
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Tanana Chiefs Conference Full Board of Directors requests the State of Alaska and United States Government to proactively monitor, report and seek protection for trans-boundary streams and rivers that have a potential to be impacted by current and future mining development in the Yukon Territory; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED the Tanana Chiefs Conference Full Board of Directors, reaffirm our commitment to protect our traditional watersheds and will take the necessary proactive steps to assure protection, in their entirety, the values and resources that our the communities depend on for our traditional way of life.
Submitted by: Chalkyitsik Village Council