Speak Up For Alaska Salmon!

 

The Murkowski Administration announced on January 13 new final rules allowing mixing zone pollution in spawning areas for Alaska wild salmon and other fish.

 

In response to these salmon protection rollbacks, legislation has been introduced (HB 328 & SB 225) to ban mixing zones in spawning areas.

 

Help ensure the Alaska Legislature passes HB 328 & SB 225 this session!

Take action NOW by contacting your legislator:  Legislator Contact Info

 

And see these additional materials:

Frequently Asked Questions

 

HB 328 Text (same as SB 225)

 

House Fisheries Committee Contact List 2006

 

2005 Petition Signed by Alaskans Opposed to Mixing Zones in Fish Streams

 

2004 Petition Against Mixing Zones in Salmon Streams

 

ADEC Mixing Zone Web Site

 

Web posted January 15, 2006 Juneau Empire

Mixing-zone change fuzzy for fishermen

Governor's new rule would allow pollution in salmon streams when salmon, eggs aren't there

 

By ELIZABETH BLUEMINK

JUNEAU EMPIRE

After a public outcry from fishermen, Gov. Frank Murkowski announced he will retain the state's ban on pollution mixing zones in spawning areas for salmon and other fish species.

 

"Alaska's salmon-based economy is too important to risk any loss in consumer confidence," said Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Kurt Fredriksson, on Friday, during a news conference about the new rule.

 

The new rule is a disappointment to the mining industry, which had supported lifting the ban, said Steve Borrell, executive director of the Alaska Miners Association.

 

On the other hand, the fishing industry wasn't ready to claim victory.

 

The United Fishermen of Alaska declined to comment Friday, citing a need for more analysis.

 

To their consternation, fishermen learned that Alaska regulators don't interpret the law to prevent mixing zones - areas where pollution is allowed to dilute to nontoxic levels - in a stream in salmon spawning areas year-round.

 

Spawning areas are defined not just as a place but a point in time by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

 

A mixing zone could be allowed when spawning salmon, eggs, or larvae are not present, state officials said. For example, a placer miner could "operate for a very small window of time" in some salmon spawning streams in Alaska, said Lynn Kent, director of the Environmental Conservation Department's Division of Water.

 

Another issue raised Friday by environmental groups: The new rule will not ban mixing zones in areas used by juvenile salmon.

 

Alaska Trollers Association Executive Director Dale Kelley said the new rule is inadequate if it doesn't protect juvenile fish.

 

According to the rule, a mixing zone will not be authorized if it harms "the present and future capability" of an area to support spawning, incubation or rearing" of fish.

 

The new rule will allow polluters to apply for exceptions to the mixing zone ban for 14 fish species - including Dolly Varden, trout and Arctic grayling.

 

Rep. Paul Seaton, R-Homer, worries that those exceptions "might be troublesome for subsistence users in the Interior."

 

http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/011506/sta_20060115023.shtml

 

Historical Information on Mixing Zone Debate:

 

On December 19, the Murkowski Administration closed the public comment period on its proposal to allow polluting "mixing zones" in Alaska fish streams.  Keeper worked with other groups to support numerous groups and municipalities and hundreds of Alaskans in their calls to reject - again! - this short-sighted policy change.  For more information, read the following:

 

Cook Inlet Keeper Comments (advocacy)

 

Cook Inlet Keeper Comments (monitoring)

 

Trustees for Alaska Comments

 

Petition Signed by Alaskans Opposed to Mixing Zones in Fish Streams

 

See also:

  

Sample Resolution for Groups & Municipalities

Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation  

Trustees for Alaska Comments 2004

Cook Inlet Keeper Comments 2004

2004 Petition Against Mixing Zones in Salmon Streams

 

For more information, contact Cook Inlet Keeper at 907.235.4068 ext. 22 or keeper@inletkeeper.org

 

Anchorage Daily News
October 18, 2005

http://www.adn.com/money/story/7101476p-7008260c.html

Comment sought on pollution
MIXING ZONES: Public will have its say on the plan until Dec. 19.
By PAULA DOBBYN
Anchorage Daily News
Published: October 18, 2005

State officials on Monday unveiled their latest effort to allow pollution into freshwater spawning areas.

If adopted, the proposed rule would end a long-standing ban on discharges in streams and rivers where salmon, pike, grayling, whitefish and other species lay their eggs. Officials say the change is needed because in a state as large as Alaska, an outright ban on so-called mixing zones does not always make sense. Critics see the proposal as loosening one of Alaska's environmental safeguards.

A mixing zone is an area where pollutants are diluted with ocean or freshwater. Inside a mixing zone, state water-quality standards are often exceeded. Sewage treatment plants, fish processors, hatcheries, oil and gas platforms, mines and other industrial operations commonly use mixing zones to get rid of waste.

Last year, when the Department of Environmental Conservation proposed ending the ban on mixing zones in spawning habitat, officials noted, as they did again on Monday, that some discharges do not bother fish and others could be timed to avoid spawning seasons. Last year's proposal drew more than 600 comments from the public, mostly in objection, DEC officials have said.

Some people wrote to say they did not want mixing zones at all while others said they did not favor locating them around spawning beds, deputy commissioner Dan Easton said Monday. Support for the rule change came mostly from the mining industry and small villages with sewage lagoons that require periodic draining, he said.

Given the opposition, DEC officials withdrew the 2004 proposal and have spent the past year reworking it.

The proposed regulation released Monday is, in some ways, a watered-down version of the first draft. The rule change would still allow mixing zones in spawning habitat in some situations. But applicants for a state mixing-zone permit would have to jump over some more hurdles.

To qualify, an applicants would have to pass a 19-part test that applies to all mixing zones. In addition, they would have to prove that the timing and composition of the discharge would not hurt fish. If the mixing zone does harm spawning, incubation or rearing of juvenile fish, the operator would have to devise a "mitigation" plan.

Kerry Howard, head of the state Office of Habitat Management and Permitting, said Alaska has a variety of mitigation strategies to compensate for the loss of fish habitat.

Critics of the mixing zone regulations said the DEC is taking a step backwards by undermining the intent of state and federal clean-water laws.

Bob Shavelson, executive director of environmental group Cook Inlet Keeper, sees little difference between last year's proposal and the new one.

"They're just putting lipstick on a pig by trying to gussy up their old proposal to add toxic pollution to Alaska's salmon streams," Shavelson said. "The fact is, they don't want sound science guiding policies under this administration."

Shavelson suspects that DEC is trying to relax the mixing zones rules because mining is experiencing a resurgence in Alaska, largely driven by high gold prices and a mining-friendly state administration.

DEC's Nancy Sonafrank, the water-quality manager heading the state's effort to rewrite the mixing zone rule, denied that new mining projects looming in Alaska are driving the proposed change. Most large mines in Alaska don't have mixing zones, although many smaller placer operations do, she said. If anything, it's officials of villages that need to flush sewage into rivers who are pressing to relax the ban, according to Sonafrank and Easton.

But some of Alaska's future mines may require mixing zones, so the rule change is welcome, said Steve Borrell, executive director of the Alaska Miners Association.

"There are times when you need a mixing zone in a stream that would have anadromous fish and right now there is an absolute prohibition on that," Borell said.

He added that while he has not combed through the fine print of Monday's proposal, Borell feels comfortable that DEC has addressed the public's concerns.

"They answered the questions that were raised," he said.

Tadd Owens, executive director of the Resource Development Council for Alaska, said the agency's latest mixing zone proposal strikes a better balance between fish and habitat protection and regulatory flexibility than the old one.

The DEC will hold public workshops on the proposal in Juneau, Fairbanks and Anchorage in November and December. The public can comment until Dec. 19.

Daily News reporter Paula Dobbyn can be reached at pdobbyn@adn.com or 257-4317.