Klukwan and Haines residents came together downtown to voice their opposition to the Palmer project. Klukwan community members organized the gathering, they see the large hard rock mine that is proposed upstream from the village as an existential threat.
For many years, Constantine Metals has been studying the potential for a large hard rock mine in the upper Chilkat watershed. Lani Hotch lives in Klukwan, downstream from the proposed mine.
Hotch: “Things are heating up now. As they are creeping closer and closer to actually mining, we are feeling the impact of it more, and the threat of it more.”
So Hotch and others put out a call for community members to unite and send a strong message to the mining company that they are not wanted here. On Monday during lunch hour, over 150 people gathered downtown. They brought signs stating their opposition to the mine, bemoaning the boom and bust cycles of extraction economies, and warning of the fragility and preciousness of the local salmon runs.
Community member Nancy Keen spoke of our mutual bonds.
Keen: “We are stewards of the land. And it is OK for us to take care of this thing that we love so much. It’s everything, it’s the land, it’s the air, it’s the water. It’s the people. And that’s what we think in the ‘Lingit Ani.”
Hotch and Keen led in the singing of the Lingit national anthem.
Hotch introduced it:
Hotch: “Recognizing that there is power in prayer,and that is the key, to stay connected spiritually is the key to survival.”
Tim Ackerman spoke of the risk of pollution.
Ackerman: “After it’s all over and done with, are we going to have to have a spectral analysis done on every fish that we plan on eating? Including the seal, and everything else associated with the fish in the ocean.”
His warning echoed the plight of the community of Angoon, whose traditional subsistence grounds in Hawk inlet has been polluted by a nearby mine. The comunity of Angoon at one time adivesed its members to avoid gathering food from the area following the capture of a seal with that tested high for contaminants. The Department of Environmental Conservation lists the site of an ore spill in Hawk inlet as “impaired waters”.
Nancy Keen warned about an influx of young men in the mining camps.
Keen: “It is proven that these man camps are linked to MMIPs. The Bakken fields in North Dakota are a prime example. Just go look at these numbers, there is direct correlation of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People.”
Lani Hotch spoke of the big picture of modern consumerism, and advocated for living with a smaller footprint.
Hotch: “I’m not going to support that nonsensical economy that they are pushing at everybody. Time to jump off that way of thinking and way of living.”
All speakers ultimately pointed to one thing, that the health of the valley is worth more than any material benefit we could trade it for.
Correction: An earlier version of this story mistakenly stated the DEC issued a consumption advisory for wild foods in Hawk inlet. It is the Angoon Community Association that at one point advised its members to avoid collecting wild foods at Hawk inlet. The DEC later issued a statement, judging the area’s food to be safe to eat. The Nonprofit Firends of Admiralty issued it’s own report, finding that: “Hawk Inlet shrimp, crab and bivalves tested are consistently higher in arsenic, cadmium, chromium, selenium than the same Alaskan seafood type statewide. In some cases, nickel and lead exceed statewide average and maximum levels.” A DEC report says; “The area near the historic ore spill in 1989 is currently listed as impaired and data from State monitoring programs and new data reviewed from Friends of Admiralty confirm this area is the only impairment in Hawk Inlet.”
