Glacier Creek, the tributary facing the potential Palmer Mine, is fed from a glacier. The Chilkat River’s tributaries are surrounded and primarily fed by glaciers. Geologically speaking, glaciers are one of the most powerful erosive forces on the planet, eroding, grinding, and pulverizing rock into fine particles. Glaciers are adding millions of tons of finely ground, unregulated sediment to our creeks and rivers annually.
Included in this landscape is an active fault zone, resulting in some of the largest landslides in the world. These landslides equate to massive piles of broken rock. Presently, there is an active landslide occurring in Glacier Creek.
Between the landslides and the pulverizing glaciers providing millions of tons of raw, exposed, mineral laden rock, water quality in the Chilkat Valley is not controllable, and is left at the mercy of these entities.
This has gone on for centuries, yet the fish are here. Water quality will never be left in the hands of Constantine Metal Recourses, which, by the way, plans to take out many of the concerned minerals that will potentially harm fish habitat.
There are many viable reasons to not have a mine, but not based on water quality concerning fish habitat.
Jon Hirsh