KNBA Newscast for Wednesday August 5, 2015
Red Devil
By Ben Matheson, KYUK
Work has been underway for years to study how to clean up the abandoned mine. And there’s still more to learn. Mike McCrum is Project manager for the Red Devil project with BLM in Anchorage.
“We still had unanswered questions with regard to tailings that have made their way into the Kuskokwim River. We also had unanswered questions for groundwater on the mine site,” said McCrum.
Researchers are putting in monitoring wells at the site and soon will sample sediments in the Kuskokwim.
The clean up work is split into two big phases now as leaders finalize a feasibility study for cleaning up the quarter million cubic yards of tailings that have been leaching mercury, arsenic, and antimony into the Kuskokwim river for years. It’s leading up to a multi-million dollar project to stop the tailings from releasing hazardous metals.
“In the end the most important thing is to address the tailings. They’re still piled up next to Red Devil creek, and that’s not a good place for them to be. The issue we’re working on now are not whether we’re going to do anything. The issues are more: what are we going to do, what’s the most efficient and optimal thing to do,” said McCrum.
Last summer they completed some work re-grading tailings piles so they were not so steep, excavating a new channel, and creating an area of still water in which sediments could drop out before reaching the Kuskokwim River. The options under consideration now include simply fencing off the site, or digging up the tailings.
“To do a pretty extensive excavation in the Red Devil Creek valley. Removing virtually of the tailings that are there, removing the soil that’s been impacted by the tailings, scraping off the top of the barge landing and placing that material in a repository on the north side of the site that at a higher elevation and and away from surface water. We would cap that with a very low permeability cap,” said McCrum.
Keeping water out would stop leaching. The final and most expensive option, by far, would be to actually barge out the material and take it to a hazardous waste facility in Northern Oregon.
“It’s common to simply remove them from the location where they’re creating an environmental issue. In this case it’s being near the water, it’s the aquatic ecosystem that’s the most sensitive to the metals being released by the tailings. So getting those tailings up and away from the water is probably the single most important thing you can do,” said McCrum.
The barging alterative would involved 123 barge transits and cost 285 million dollars. Keeping the material on site would cost 35 million. The BLM plans to take a proposed plan out to Kuskokwim communities early in 2016. A final decision is expected next year and the agency hopes compete the work within the next few years. The sediment work would come later.
The Red Devil mercury mine operated from 1933 to 1971. By the 80s it was considered abandoned and the government began the long process of cleaning up. Studies have found buildup of metals in fish nearby. The State has issued a warning to residents not to collect subsistence foods nearby.
They also warned pregnant women and young children to avoid large-sized pike and lush. Those are predators that can accumulate mercury over many years.
Bering Straits AIH
By Matthew Smith, KNOM
Bering Straits Native Corporation is getting into the hardware business—after purchasing a small Alaska-based chain of industrial construction and equipment stores.
The company announced Monday the purchase of Alaska Industrial Hardware.
Founded by James Thompson in 1959 in a Quonset hut in midtown Anchorage, AIH now operates 8 locations statewide—including 3 in Anchorage—with stores in Eagle River, Wasilla and Kenai. Outside of Southcentral the company also has stores in Fairbanks and Juneau. The company also hosts the annual Salmon Classic Fishing Tournament.
Details of the sale—including the purchase price for the company—were not given by BSNC or AIH. As of a 2008 profile in Alaska Business Monthly, AIH boasts a 15 million dollar on-hand inventory in its stores, but AIH President Terry Shurtleff says those numbers are higher today—and that company’s distribution network connects it to 400 retailers across Alaska, including the bush.
“If they’re buying hardware in western Alaska, odds are the vendor who has it purchased it through our wholesale division,” said Shurtleff.
In a release from BSNC, corporation president and CEO Gail Schubert says “AIH is a solid company that fits well with the growing Bering Straits portfolio of companies.”
Shurtleff and the existing executive team will continue managing the company, and its more than 230 employees, on a day-to-day basis. No major changes in staffing are expected as a result of purchase.
It’s incredibly gratifying to know that we’ll continue to be Alaskan owned, and I think some of the expertise that Bering brings to the table, and expertise we bring to the table, we’re going to be able to use that to benefit all the shareholders of the corporation, and you know, that’s what we’re here to do, it so provide a return to the 71-hundred plus shareholders of the corporation,” said Shurtleff.
Bering Straits says in the release the purchase is part of the company’s strategic plan to expand its holdings beyond commercial and government operations, lands, and resource development.
BSNC was established to represent shareholders in the Bering Strait and Norton Sound region under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971.
Shageluk Death
By the Associated Press
Alaska State Troopers say searchers have found the body of a 48-year-old Shageluk man who went missing after he jumped out of a boat.
Troopers say they were notified Sunday evening that Robert Demientieff was found dead in the Innoko River.
According to troopers, Demientieff jumped into the river about 7 miles from the western Alaska village. Troopers were notified of the incident late Friday night, when locals began searching for the missing man.
Troopers flew to the village on Saturday to conduct an investigation and help with the search.
Troopers say Demientieff had not been wearing a personal flotation device. His body was sent to the state medical examiner's office.