Alaska Inter-Tribal Council : Advocating for Alaska Tribal Governments

Alaska Inter-Tribal Council :: Resolution # 2006-09

TITLE: Petitioning the State of Alaska to develop regulations that require gold processing facilities to monitor, report and control mercury air emissions.

WHEREAS, the Alaska Inter-Tribal Council (AITC) is a state-wide consortium of First Nations committed to preserving and protecting our indigenous livelihood traditions of hunting, trapping, fishing, and gathering, and

WHEREAS, mercury is a powerful toxin, particularly to children and pregnant women, and exposure to mercury can cause significant neurological and developmental problems such as attention and language deficits, impaired memory and impaired vision and motor function, and

WHEREAS, gold processing facilities can be a source of mercury air pollution, and

WHEREAS, mercury is present in the proposed Donlin Creek Mine ore-body, and the company is proposing to use thermal processes, such as autoclaves, to process the ore. And, thermal process are a primary source of mercury air emissions at mines with mercury ore content, and

WHEREAS, the mercury released into the air ultimately returns to the land, where it washes into rivers, lakes, and streams and is taken up by fish and other aquatic life, and

WHEREAS, mercury in the fish present a public health risk to people because the mercury is bound to the tissue and cannot be significantly removed by cleaning or cooking, and

WHEREAS, there are no state or federal regulations that require gold processing facilities to control mercury air emissions, and

WHEREAS, unregulated mercury air emissions are a critical concern to the Native Alaska communities due to the importance of subsistence resources, particularly fish, to our diet, culture, health and economy, and

WHEREAS, it is in the best interest of members of the village of Akiak and AITC to ensure that strong regulations are in place to effectively monitor, report and control mercury air emissions from gold processing facilities to protect these important resources.

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, the parties to the resolution agree to submit a resolution to AITC requesting that they petition the state to develop regulations to require gold processing facilities to effectively monitor, report and control mercury air emissions to protect subsistence resources.