The Chilkat Valley Mining Committee hosted and organized a forum on water Wednesday evening where speakers outlined the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation’s discharge permit process, copper’s effect on salmon and other issues related to mining and water quality.

Allan Nakanishi, with DEC’s wastewater discharge program, discussed how baseline data is key to monitoring future discharge and how DEC uses that data when the agency sets permit limits.

The state doesn’t collect its own baseline data, but expects the permit proponent to provide such figures. Constantine Metal Resources, the company currently exploring the Palmer Project 40 miles northwest of Haines, has been collecting such data.

Haynes Tormey asked the panel, during a question-and-answer period, which agencies had taken baseline data and how many samples each had collected.

Nakanishi said he was unaware of any samples collected by the state. Takshanuk Watershed Council executive director Meredith Pochardt said they’ve taken “four quarterly samples” at different locations. Constantine’s vice president of community affairs Liz Cornejo said they’ve collected hundreds of samples since 2008. A contractor working for Constantine interjected and said she would call it “dozens of samples at certain locations and certain times,” the samples of which are measured for hundreds of chemicals.

Norman Hughes asked if and when Constantine would release that data to the public. Cornejo said some of that data has been released and more will be available periodically. “We’d be open to working with other groups too and collaborating and maybe going out together and sampling.”

Cornejo displayed some data on copper and aluminum levels in Glacier Creek and water near the Klehini Bridge and the Mud Bay spring. The copper levels in Glacier Creek and the Klehini are very low, Cornejo said. Levels of aluminum are very high during glacial runoff, according to Constantine’s data. “Naturally these rivers are higher than the aquatic (water quality) standards,” Cornejo said.

Nakanishi said Alaska has some of the most stringent water quality standards in the country. Constantine would have to comply with water quality standards whether or not waters affected by discharge have natural levels that exceed those standards.

Thom Ely asked Nakanishi why the Red Dog and Greens Creek mines top the list of the worst industrial polluters in the United States.

Nakanishi said the EPA’s toxic release inventory that lists those mines is “a little misleading” because it includes discharges into regulated facilities.

“Red Dog has been number one in terms of discharges…99 or 98 percent of discharges reported in that report, and the same as Greens Creek, are disposal in regulated facilities, meaning that they are permanent for that disposal and that disposal is monitored and evaluated.”

In her presentation, Pochardt discussed copper and its effect on salmon. Copper is more or less toxic to fish based on certain parameters. If water is soft or acidic, copper is more lethal to salmon. Copper is less harmful if it’s present in hard water. The Klehini River water is on the hard end of the scale and has a neutral pH balance, Pochardt said.

A third parameter that affects copper toxicity is dissolved organic carbon. Copper binds with these carbons. The level of dissolved organic carbon in the Klehini is quite low, Pochardt said, and such carbons “reduce toxicity greater than hardness would.”

The Chilkat Valley Mining Forum Committee is made up of members from the Haines Chamber of Commerce, the Haines Borough, Constantine, Northern Southeast Gillnetters, Chilkoot Indian Association, Haines Sportsmen’s Association, the Palmer Family, the Alaska Miner’s Association, United Southeast Alaska Gillnetters Association and the Takshanuk Watershed Council. The Chilkat Indian Village and Lynn Canal Conservation, former members, dropped out of the committee last fall. The committee is co-chaired by Chamber of Commerce Director Tracey Harmon and Constantine’s Cornejo.