Recently, we learned that despite serious environmental and community concerns, the proposed Donlin Gold Project was added to the FAST-41 permitting program, marking it as a federal priority. Donlin Gold would be the largest pure gold mine in the world, located on a tributary ~140 miles upriver from the mouth of the Kuskokwim. This colossal extraction project would require a 471-foot tailings dam to hold back a massive amount of cyanide-laden mining waste in perpetuity, and a 316-mile gas pipeline from Cook Inlet crossing over hundreds of salmon-supporting wetlands and streams. Despite widespread concerns, the federal government is pushing ahead with rapidly permitting this megaproject.
The FAST-41 program, originally implemented during the Obama Administration, was designed to create an efficient permitting process for essential public transportation infrastructure, but Donlin’s recent inclusion in the program demonstrates that the bucket of project qualifications has significantly strayed from that vision. While the FAST-41 program does not allow for a project to skip any significant steps in its permitting process, it increases coordination between federal agencies and the permit applicants, in this case, Canadian Mining Corporation Nova Gold and New York billionaire John Paulson, who made his money betting against homeowners in the 2008 housing crash.
While Donlin’s listing in the program may not have a significant impact on the permitting timeline, it does send a clear signal that our federal decision makers are in the pocket of these corporate players. A badge of honor, no doubt, that Nova Gold and Paulson will be touting proudly to draw in potential investors for the project.
The Permitting Council argues the FAST-41 program brings “predictable permitting timelines and improved public transparency.” But FAST-41 was built for essential infrastructure, not to give risky mega-mines a shortcut. As a result, the only thing this listing has made more transparent is that the administration cares more for the well-being of a foreign mining company and a distant billionaire than it does for the people in the region. This overwhelmingly Indigenous population depends on the health of the Kuskokwim watershed to survive, and communities in the Cook Inlet region will also feel the impacts of the mine.
Because it would rely on limited Cook Inlet gas to supply its power, Donlin also threatens energy prices for ratepayers across Cook Inlet. Research commissioned by Inletkeeper from analyst Mark Foster shows that Donlin would consume the dwindling supply of affordable Inlet gas, forcing our utilities to rely on more expensive gas. Our research suggests Donlin could add up to $265 per year to household utility bills of homeowners from Homer to Fairbanks. Why should Alaskans have to compete with foreign mining companies for affordable energy, one of our basic needs? This is the opposite of what the FAST-41 program was intended for.
Gold is a mineral that we already have vast reserves of above ground. It does not play a meaningful role in the energy transition or national security, and compared to the tax revenue oil generates, our state practically gives it away. And while Donlin shakes hands with the Trump administration and our elected leaders, thanking them for giving their project a boost, things we really need, like access to affordable clean energy, health care, education, and real vital infrastructure projects, are getting kneecapped in DC.
Fast-41 is a national law that was passed to ensure that American communities have the infrastructure that they need to thrive. The most important “infrastructure” to the villages of the Kuskokwim is the river itself, and the nourishment of the salmon that return to it every year. In the name of making rich people richer, Donlin puts the life force of this region at risk.