U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Draft Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment Record of Public Comment Meeting Levelock, Alaska - Wednesday, June 6, 2012

[00:00:51.17] Ray Apokedak

My name is Raymond Apokedak, vice president, and I wanted to talk about the wetlands. If you go for a plane ride you can see all the lakes and creeks and all of that stuff. I am a commercial fisherman, and I want my son and my grandsons to enjoy what we have today and I don't want it to be lost. Like subsistence fishing now, mostly, I don't want anything to happen to our way of life. The way I grew up and the way I want my family to be. Mine was short and sweet.

[00:02:22.01] Peter Apokedak

My name is Peter Apokedak. I am an elder here at Levelock. All my life I been doing subsistence fishing myself. I am a salmon fis herman. I know the area where the mining is going to be. I went to school in Newhalen. That is why I know the country from subsisting. Caribou, moose, porcupine, ptarmigans, and we drink out of the creek. We didn't have bottled water then. Pure water. What I don't like about this mine is that it is in the wrong place. Everyone is telling me this too. It's the wrong place. Our Bristol Bay watershed on one side and the Nushagak on the other side. That is not going to be a little hole, they are going to make a gigantic of a hole up there. The way I look at it, there not big hills up there. It is little hills where they are going to be digging and it is all pretty much swamp. (Couldn't understand sentence). Everyone is going to see it. In my lifetime, I will probably be gone by the time it gets going. The elders always say from the beginning, don't start it. We are here now, and some of us are against it.

[00:05:15.29] Danielle Dawkins

My name is Danielle Dawkins and I come from reindeer herders on my Moms side and wagon train travelers on my Dad's side. It is from thes e two diverse cultures that I have the privilege to come to you today. I am currently a member of the Levelock village council and recentlybecame a BBNC shareholder due to the recent loss of my mom (Marlis). First of all I would like to express my gratitude to you for the hard work that has been put thus far into the watershed assessment. I urge you to pay especially close attention to the voices of our elders all across Bristol Bay. They have instilled in them the deepest of our roots, and our God given way of life; our culture that has been slowly fading away. It is the adaptation to modern civilization that we have embraced so far, that it is causing our cultures to become lost. With this in mind, it is not about our unwillingness to adapt to a money-making economy. Our village, through the help of BBEDC grants will be implementing and will be utilizi ng a fish processing pl ant that will employ up to 22 local residents with the potential for growth. This employment will help us to become a more sustainable community. For how long? It is detrimental to our way of life to hang on to the ingenuity of the proposed Pebble project. Pebble area, an area that is monumental to the integrity of the Bristol Bay fisheries, both locally and globally. Regardless of some opinions, my subsistence way of life is a necessity and not just done for pleasure. I save thousands of dollars a year by smoking, canning, salting and fr eezing fish that our mighty Kvichak provides. Along with the berries, and caribou, moose, rabbits and plentiful birds that my sons bring home to me. Nothing makes me more proud than knowing that these traditions have been passed on to us for thousands of generations.

Figure 5-14 on page 566 and figure 5-16 on page 573 illustrates the proposed transportation corridor and the distribution of salmon, Dolly Varden, rainbow trout and the sockeye spawners that use this area. What, if any areas of similar construction can you provide regarding the overall risk of this type of destruction to the spawning population? The destruction and the risks of this making it are far too great for me to just sit back and not inquire if whether or not the proposed Pebble mine, our existing fisheries and our subsistence way of life can really coexist? Natural disasters are unknowable, unstoppable and unpredictable in most cases. I ask that you please delve deeper into these natural occurrences and the potential it plays on the withstandings of the proposed pit, and things to be built, especially the seismic activity around the proposed Pebble site. It is my understanding that perhaps the fault lines run closer than what is illustrated in the figure 4-11 on page 442.

My understanding from reading the draft assessment has proven to me that damage couldresult if Pebble gets to proceed with the proposed pit, TSF and transportation corridor. Manmade is not fool proof and no one guarantee the stability of the structures that the proposed Pebble site is planning on building when there is a lack of documentation on TSF withstandingsand failings. Furthermore, the devastation that is left in the wake of past mining projects, for example Fort Belknap and Johannesburg is mind boggling. Can that happen here? It would be wonderful if all industries could co-exist without damages done. However, there are too many "could happen and if" scenarios in the assessment on the damages that will take place should anything fail during this project. It is a risk that I'm not willing to stand by and watch without solid guarantees and comparisons showing that they will not. If there is any doubt that catastrophe could happen to the area surrounding the site, I urge you to take necessary action under 404(c) and protect our Bristol Bay wetlands, streams and our subsistence way of life. It clearly states that your mission is to protect human health and the environment. Our subsistence way of life plays a substantial role in our heal th both spiritually and physically.

[00:10:06.28] New sound file started

Olga Chukwak Spoken in Yup'ik

She said that she is against the Pebble Mine too. All the people she talked to up the lake, the same. They don't want a mine. The elders used to tell her that the mine would ruin all our fish. She is doing her best to get it out to us. (Translator says at end that he missed most of it.)

New sound file started George Wilson, Jr.

Hello, my name is George Wilson, Jr. And I am the president of the Levelock Natives Corporation and we are the largest single landowner on the Kvichak River. The corporation feels as a whole, that they are worried about the Pebble project and what would it do to the fisheries here. They strongly oppose it. I’ve been a commercial fisherman for 33 years and I learned that craft from my Dad and my gr andfather. I have two young daughters and I hope they grow up in it. It provided me with income, but also subsistence for our household. Just as everyone has a home here in Level ock, everyone has fish and game in it because of the rich resource we have here. It is pristine and healthy environment is why our elders moved here and stayed here. I have two young fishermen w ho fish with me, and they are both from Levelock. I teach them the craft of being a fisherman and I hope someday that I can see them in their own boats fishing alongside me. That would be one of the benefits that I can bring on to young fishermen. This is a small community that is still a very strong fishing community. Wehave a little processing plant that we hope to get started soon that will provide jobs to a lot of people. I don't like the rhetoric that we get from Pebble that there aren't any jobs here. I've been able to work most of my adult life. Some of them aren’t the most glamorous, but there are always jobs. Fishing is a huge part of that. It put me through college and I hope that someday it can put my girls through college.

I grew up in Igiugig and Levelock here. I grew up on the river with my Dad. We subsistence fished and got berries, harvest moose and caribo u every year. Only because of the clean environment there are all of these resources for us to take. Some of the questions I have of EPA: You talk about what would happen up there if there was a large failure and what the effect would be on salmon on just on these two river systems. What would it do to the surrounding area such as the birds and the animals? Everything has a secondary effect. Second, the Pebble Mine site, you talk about the footprint, but as you said earlier, it's completely surrounded by leases. If Pebble was to get started it would bring in infrastructure, power, and roads that would make it more viable for the smaller leases to start up or go into partners with Pebble. All of a sudden the picture gets a whole lot bigger. It is already largest in N. America. Thanks for coming to listen to us.

[00:03:29.28] Moses Kritz

Thank you for the opportunity. My name is Moses Kritz and I am from Togiak. Thank the Levelock folks for sharing their subsistence foods this afternoon. I am from Togiak and it is the furthermost west of Bristol Bay. Definitely, we will be affected because the most recent trade I did was with herring roe and seal oil with a person from Koliganek for Whitefish. That way we definitely will be affected. This afternoon, my topic is economic development and economic sustainability of our community. It has always been the focus of our community to have the subsistence way of life, and currently in a partnership with our tribe and Copper River Seafoods, processing high-grade salmon and halibut and educating our local fisherman on bleeding and icing our salmon as soon as it comes out of the water. The waters of Togiak and marketing our fish to the high end users to our great country of the USA. Please continue to help us protect our waters that continues to sustain our livelihood and for the protection of our salmon. This is culturally our way of life. Please consider 404(c), protecting our environment and the salmon. I thank you again for the opportunity to be as we have been throughout the centuries.[00:06:04.23] Norm Anderson

I would first of all like to thank Levelock Nati ves for allowing me to give testimony today on traditional lands. For anyone who doesn’t know me, I'm Norman Anderson, originally from Naknek. I'm youngest son of Edward G Anderson of (?) and Alma Christenson of Ugashik. I am a third generation fisherman and I live a subsistence lifestyle. During the winter months, I'm employed with the Economic Development Administration out of Dillingham with the BBNA as the Economic Development Program Manager. Regardless of what is offered to the tribes throughout the years, we have always pursued sustainable economic development to ensure the fact that as we over the years have apprec iated the seven generations scenario, to assure into the future what we have today as our generations before us. We must be sure to gingerly take care of our lands. When I was in college, I once read where the Native Alaskan people carved a living out of a harsh environment. I felt proud, and then I thought that is BS. We live in harmony with the land. The way we take it and we see it. We know how to read the land; we know how to read the waters, because that was handed down to us one generation to the next.

In several meetings I have been to, I see where the argument always comes up about putting a price on our subsistence foods and they say they cannot do that. I agree because of the fact that it is priceless to us. It cannot be replaced. If anything was to come about where there was a natural or manmade (disaster), we would not be able to replace that. Farmed salmon is not a thing I like. Wild Alaskan Salmon. They try manipulating genes and species and you come up with mad cow disease and you come up with Frankenfish and it is just appalling. We have the most natural and abundant product here with us. Because of the fact that we as the indigenous people have always taken care of what we have. We take what we need. We share with the less fortunate until we need more and have it available to us. If you look in Webster’s dictionary and look up the term subsistence, all of our pictures would be next to it because we are the perfect example of that. What we learned from the elders we teach to the youth. The elders shared with us the fact that we only take what we need and they taught us how to prepare it. As we experienced here this evening. My personal feelings on the 404(c) - we do need this assistance. For years we fought off everything from epidemics to weather to invading countries and other things that are happening and we see it happening again. Years ago, when I was a board member with BBNA, we were approached by a Tech Cominco. At the time, their man who approached us gave a long presentation on the benefits of mining and when we found out where it was we said no. Surprisingly to some, the government process for this particularprocess worked, because that individual no longer worked for the mining industry, but was given a position in the state department of land management. There is always this attitude of drill baby drill such as the current governor, that he inherited from the last governor who ran for governor and then ran.

I agree that the timeline for comment should remain as it is, because of the fact that the opposition would review what we had and then it would give them the feed to retaliate. Additional time is just smoke and mirrors. It is a game play. Stick to your guns. We offer you what we have for generations; the consistency, maintaining the integrity that we have and preserving our lands.

[00:11:38.15] Russell Nelson

My name is Russell Nelson. First I want to talk about your summary you guys put out. I read it. It’s a very easy read, it was very well done. I loved the pictures even. You did a good job of going over things. I looked at your main report. Vol. 1 2 and 3, I haven't had time to study it, but as I went through the pages, I noticed that inside of there, most of it is factual information. There is nothing really to comment on because you guys made such a nice document that I know people around here are going to want copies of it, just so that they can write their grants and get the statistics out of it. You did a rea lly wonderful job of the demographics. Not a whole lot to comment on, maybe other than add a few things like the seismic data that are lacking in everybody's data. The Pebble Partnership 30,000 pages had had just 7 pages and two of those were copied out of someone else’s and basically t hey said that all we think is that the Lake Clark fault goes either north or south and it doesn't go south and yet we know that this a fault zone. I think we know that there is a huge hole in the seismic data, so when they start planning things like the tailings dam, I noticed that y ou guys have the three types of normal tailings dams that they have and one of them is more susceptible to breakage than the other. If they are allowed to build it, they have to be able to build it right and that will take seismic data.

Please make sure this effort is done on time. This tactic of delay this, lets delay this forever, but this is too important to the people of this region for delay. When you talk about July 23, to end the comment period, the main commercial fishery is done by then. People are getting their boats ready now, but it is not a hurry rush thing. It is not going to be for a few weeks until we have a fishing season. I talked to my parents and t hey are pretty old, and if you think they aregoing to read this document, and comment on it. They are leaving up to people like us. I am three courses away from a bachelor’s degree and I'm reading it and I'm saying I can comment on everything that I need to comment on during this time. It's not too short and so let’s get it

done so we can move down the line.

We need to ensure three things about this area. #1 This is the initial footprint of a mine this size. We need to ensure that they don't put tailings in salmon spawning streams. We need every single salmon. We have more permits and we can stop the BB run already and F and G does and good job and lets the escapement go through. The king salmon is a very important part of our fishery. If you cover that portion of the king salmon spawning beds, it is going to make it very hard to for us to maintain our culture of people who eat king every year. It's the first fish of the year, it's a very important fi sh for us and we can't have that huge loss. And we can’t stand to have toxins and mixing zones up there and we can’t stand to have that place dewatered. Fish need water. That is why we have the fish here. We cannot stand to take care of that mine site forever and have perpetual remediation and an empty sulfide mine that goes bankrupt after they have taken all of the money out and taken it overseas to their shareholders wherever they may be. Those are the really impor tant things. We need to protect the salmon, protect the spawning beds and if they can build that mine without endangering the spawning beds and without injuring the fish have at it, but please protect the salmon.

[00:16:15.16] Sergie Chukwak

My name is Serge Chukwak. My grandson will be the 5th generation commercial fisherman. I started out fishing on the south beak in S. Naknek, known as Johnson hill some 40 years ago helping out my aunt and grandma. Then in 1980 I started drifting with my mom and oldest brother in an open skiff. We asked for a bunk and they put a cabin on our skiff and we were happy. I have four children. My son started out fishing when he was four years old, a couple of weeks in the fall. He started fishing from the beginning to the end the next year when he was five. A couple of weeks ago he graduated from high school. Two years ago he ran his own fishing boat. He was the youngest captain in 2010. My point is that fishi ng for my family and I is our life, whether it be subsistence or commercial fishing. Family history: I had great aunts who lived in New Koliganek, Ekwok and New Stuyahok. Aunts and Uncles in Newhalen and Igiugig. All of my family lives in the Nushagak and Kvichak drainage. You contaminate or take away of their subsistence lifestyle is unacceptable. To tell the elders that they cannot eat the salmonbecause there is contaminated and you can only have 8 ounces a day of contaminated farm fish, or you can die of cancer. The elders, to tell them that they can't eat fish and change their lifestyle. They are going to do it anyway. Eat it until they go to the hospital. They will eat fish whether it's good for them or not. Personally, I thin k they will do it until the day they die. They don't do anything else. I hope they know better.

I encourage you to restrict large scale mining in the Nushagak and Kvichak drainages for the health and safety of the people and for the descendants of the people who intend to remain in this area and who call this land home. The only difference between the people who live in the city and the people who live in rural Alaska is that your backyard has a fence around it. Our backyard is 20 miles in every direction and that is where we live. That is our backyard and to fence it off and keep someone out to keep the contaminants out, it just won't happen. They are not able to do it. Before they put the first dam on the Columbia River, there was a lot of salmon in Washington. Now there are a lot of dams and barely any salmon to speak of. We allow one mine here. There are claims all the way from Yellow Creek to behind Nondalton. If they allow one pit to happen that pit is going to be from my backyard up to my cousin’s backyard about 120 miles. That is unacceptable. If you the EPA allow this mine to happen are you willing to be the very person who puts an end to the people who subsistence hunt and fish in this area for the last 6000 years. My observation is don't allow large scale mining to happen and contaminate our waters. Sorry, I got a little emotional here. Don't do it. Put this nightmare to rest for once

and for all.

[00:22:16.06] Arthur Bloom

I wrote out my comments so that I can be understood but I will keep it short. I first want to say that it is a privilege to live in a democracy w here we have the opportunity to speak to everyone and I'm also quite privileged to be in the same room with these people who have lived in harmony with the land since the beginning. My name is Arthur Bloom. I came to Alaska almost 40 years ago to work as a research fisheries bi ologist. For the past 21 years I have commercial fished in Bristol Bay. I thank you for doing a science based assessment. While I am sure you have heard from proponents of corporate profit, and that government is overreaching in state affairs; I believe it was absolutely necessary for you to take the lead on a science based assessment. Oops is not an acceptable outcome in the world’s most productive salmon habitat. The likelihood of spills, contaminated discharges and other failures is considerable. Therecannot be guarantees and no way to repair the damage once it occurs. The risk of mining activity once it occurs in Bristol Bay is severe. Minute concentrations of copper affect salmon, not to mention acid production and all the other potential impacts of monumental size construction activity. Witness the demise of the Alaska coastal zone management program and the formation just the other day of groups to oppose the reinstitution of the ACZMP. Based on that I personally believe that the state of AK permitting process which has been tweaked in recent years to favor dollar based development, is not capable of assessing the risks of this unique situation that involves unique life styles, unbelievable natural resource productivity and hugely valuable economic productivity that when managed properly can be sustained in perpetuity. Proponents of mining development are asking to extend the comment period. That can only be to allow the corporate PR machine to attempt to make this a type of popularity contest. Many of us have been analyzing this threat for many many years. Six or eight years since the claims have been announced. The comment period is sufficient and the future of Bristol Bay salmon runs and all that they support should not be decided by PR driven popularity contest decision making. Thank you.

[00:25:22.25] Anna Mae Bartholomew

My name is Anna Mae Bartholomew. Many of you know my parents Mike and Mary (?). So anyway, I was born and raised in Dillingham, Bristol Bay. Our traditional knowledge is our salmon. For generations, we have put up roughl y 5,000 pounds of salmon each and every year to provide for our families. In our traditional ways and traditional knowledge, we do not waste. We use nearly every inch of that salmon that we catch. We use the heads, the tails, the stomach linings and the eggs. From the meat from our salmon we freeze it, can it, smoke it, dry it, pickle it. Half smoke it, three day smoke it and then can it, we bake it, we dehydrate it, we salt it, we jerky it and we boil it. Our traditional ways also include the spawned out salmon. In our families and our traditional ways we call them (Yup'ik word), wand actually (this fish) is a delicacy. You can't wait for that time of the year to have that (fish). Where you have pork, chicken or beef, we replace it with salmon. Your pork, beef, chicken and other meats are your staple. Our traditional knowledge and way of life is salmon. When that goes away, and is wiped out, our traditional knowledge and ways are gone. We cannot replace that salmon. Please make sure to add this to your assessment.[00:27:11.05] Golda June Weiland

My name is Golda Weiland. I am from Dillingham and I work for BBNA. I come from a rich heritage of native ancestors who moved to the BB region for the purpose of becoming commercial fisherman and live and practice the traditional life as we know it today. My heritage is rich in abundance with the knowledge to survive. It is rich in the economic opportunity that the salmon bring to our region each year. Our traditional way of life has been preserved for hundreds of years. The main law of the land is preservation. Preserve the berries, preserve the game, preserve and protect our salmon. We have a right to continue our subsistence way of life and a right to continue to make our living from salmon. It is also our duty to oppose any activities that will impose harm on any our traditions, people, animals and in this case salmon. That is why we need to act to protect BB. Fishing and living a subsistence way of life is not just a right for the people of Bristol Bay, fishing is a highly prized value. What is the traditional definition of value? To consider with respect to worth excellence, use or importance. In order to become fully internalized, values must be chosen freely from alternatives after careful consideration of the consequences of each alternative. A value is prized or cherished by the individual, who feels happy with the choice and is willing to publicly affirm the choice. The individual must act on the choice repeatedly in some form of way. So take a look around, nod your heads at each other, because we are standing together here today, voicing our values, voicing our opinions to prevent Pebble. Please take 404 action to protect Bristol Bay.

[00:29:24.04] Thomas Gardiner IV

My name is Thomas Gardiner. I like to say thank you for holding these meetings and let us talk. From traditional knowledge we keep our culture going. My subsistence life is with my family, which consists of four boys and my wife. I also help my grandmother, grandfather, mother, father and our other family members. I hold a Bris tol Bay drift permit, my family fishes with me both commercially and subsistence. My fam ily has been doing the same for generations and I hope we can keep passing it on. My family processes approximately 4,000 pounds of salmon, kings, reds, slivers, etc. We start when the fish first come into the river, all the way to the very end. My family and I smoke, dry and freeze th e salmon. I brought you some canned salmon to share that we keep year round. If the salmon go away, my family would have to buy more food from the store. I would have less funds to buy food from the story if I cannot commercial fish forsalmon. This would result for the first time my kids or grandkids could not have salmon as well as my ancestors. The fish keep us tied to the land. For all these reasons, the loss of salmon is unacceptable. Please consider 404(c) to protect Bristol Bay. We need to protect our way of life.

Thanks.

[00:31:24.08] Steve Scarbro

This is something else isn't it? Thank you to the good folks at EPA for showing up and listening to us. Thank you to good citizens our good community and surrounding villages. As I stand before you today, I am both fearful and hopeful, for these are hard and troubled times to be sure. I'm reminded of a recent of a recent event, when a skiff full of people from (Platinum) to pick eggs and wound up in an ice flow, adrift for nearly a week before finally landing near Port Heiden, clear across Bristol Bay. To any av erage human, this probably would have been a life ending experience, but not these folks, no way. They accepted their situation with their usual humor and good cheer as part of the natural order of things. You see the native cultures of the north have conditioned themselves to not only thrive, but prosper in the face of hardship and adversity. How is that, you ask? I tell you. Long, long ago, these people realized that only a humble and respectful relationship with the l andscape so ominous and unforgiving would be rewarded by a happy and healthy existence. In other words folks, this land and its associated cultures have flourished for the millennia because the indigenous people have adapted with and adapted to their environment as opposed to other cultures who adapt and change their

environment to suit themselves. Alaska native dr ifting across the Bering Sea in an open skiff is as much at home as anyone of you sitting on your couches watching TV. Like Sergie said, this is all our backyards. Folks, what is truly at stake here today, is the permanent destruction and the very existence of the only wild and pristine lands and related culture of its' kind, anywhere on planet earth. Only one of its kind. A working living breathing entity, wholly into itself, perfected by God. Many years ago, a wise old man once said to me, if that gold were meant to be had, it wouldn't be buried where it is. Thank about those words for a minute people. I think what that old time means to say is that those mineral deposits are there for a reason. At the very least, it is an integral part of a vast and rich ecosystem, such as the birds and bees and flowers and trees, etc. Perhaps, even the very source or nectar that feeds and nourishes this very region couldn't that be a hoot if modern science figured that out. If so, those minerals should be preserved in perpetuity and protected as is, not mined. I for one choose to believe that old man, I choose to believe people who have known all along, because there is a lot wedon't know, a lot we are not meant to know, and a lot we will never know. But ladies and gentlemen, please know this with all certainty: do not fool with Mother Nature. Listen to what these people are telling you. Please do not let the permitting process continue. You can stop this insanity right now. You have the authority, you say so yourselves. I believe you also have the moral obligation to do what is right by the people and the land. Please do so before it is too late. Thank you.

[00:36:51.20] Andria Agli

My name is Andria Agli. I grew up in the village of South Naknek, which is just downriver from here. However, my family has hunted up and down the Kvichak River and around Lake Iliamna for generations. I'd like to thank EPA for holdi ng these meetings and hearing from the people who live and hunt and fish on the river systems that will be impacted most. I've heard the statements from the state of Alaska and the other supporters of the large scale mining, that the Bristol Bay watershed assessment was rushed and that the study was too premature. We support the science of this document as it in turn supports what the elders of this area and their traditional knowledge have said all along. Please protect our land and protect our fish and protect our game. I've also heard the statements and the comments that the comment period is too short. I believe the attendance and the statements at these meetings by the local people

and the fisherman shows their commitment and underst anding of the severity of this issue. You were right that this is a busy time of the year. We are preparing our boats, we are mending our nets, we are cleaning our smokehouses and we are sharpening our knives. However, by testifying at these meetings and missing out on one day or maybe several days of preparation for those who attend multiple meetings here in the region, we hope that this will prevent, with the help of the EPA, missing out on a lifetime of salmon and missing out on a way of life that we have treasured for thousands of years. Please show your commitment by keeping the current public comment timeline, and the schedule that you have posted here. Take a quick 404(c) action to protect the waters of BB. Thank you to the village of Levelock for your hospitality and thank you EPA for coming out to the region.[00:39:19.09] Robin Samuelson

Thank you for showing up in Levelock today, EPA. I wish you could make it to more villages. But we realize the time crunch you guys are under. The people of Levelock have been here before, a lot of them are my friends, they really appreciate you coming out and hearing their concerns. For the record, my name is Robin Samuelson. I don't know who the hell I am today.

I listed commercial fisherman and a subsistence user. I sit on the board of the BBEDC. I sit on the board of the BBNC; I've worked for these people all of my life. We don't want a foreign company coming in and destroying our land. There are 67 permits that are going to be issued

for this mine. 66 of them would be from the state of Alaska and one from EPA. Them 66 permits, we think the state is going to sign off. Let me bring to back to when we elected Governor Frank Murkowski as governor of Alaska. He said he was going to revamp the process on permitting into a rampant acceleration and create economies. He did away with our coastal zone management. We had our lands protected! Under our old policies, there never would be a Pebble Mine going in near Iliamna. Frank and his henchmen threw that out, they wouldn't listen to us. Frank and his henchmen got the US Fish and Wildlife Service to come into Bristol Bay and all of Alaska because the state of Alaska said that people couldn't have subsistence. They violated a federal law called ANILCA, so we brought in USFWS. The history against the native people in rural Alaska in the last 20 years is been unbelievable what these guys are getting away with. It is the same henchmen that you guys heard from in Anchorage the other day, saying go out to Bristol Bay and put in that mine that is going to destroy the water. If that mine goes through, you might as well fly over Levelock and drop a bomb. These people are not going to survive. Today they will not survive. They will not afford food from the store. They eat from the land and they eat from the water. We eat millions of dollars worth of subsistence foods. Go to Ekwok and drop another bomb and take 20 more and drop them in Dillingham and the other villages because that is what is w hat you would let it do. The Pebble Mine is the Germans to the Jews in 1942, there is no question. This is our land; this isn't some (Yup'ik word) land. This is our land. Our elders and our forefathers grew up on it. I see know that Pebble and the Attorney General want to extend the comment period. Your comment period is great. You are hitting the villages before fishing s eason. What they want to do is delay tactic, delay tactic, delay tactic, so they can wait unt il the next administration, hoping that Romney is elected and that Romney can put in the mine. The economy out here. I am also the President of BBEDC. I represent this community along with 17 other communities. It is one of the biggest fish processors in the state of Alaska. On the average, we do 160 million pounds of fish a year.If you do that, you might as well shut down our plant in Naknek. I've talked to our buyers and if the mine goes through and pollutes the water in front of Levelock, and that water goes down to the Kvichak and taints the fish, our market are done. Again, bring the bombs and drop them on us. We have nothing to live for without our land and water. Frank Murkowski and his boys set this up. This is a foreign company, a foreign company that wants to come to our homeland and destroy it. Don't let it happen. These people and the other people in Bristol Bay.... BBNC did a study and 81% of the people said no, they said hell no. We didn't poll one white man. If we had polled the white man, we’d have about 90 to 95% standing behind saying No Mine No Mine. Our people here, the non-native people here who don't want that mine, it should be alright. We don’t go to NY and tell them we are going to build a big pit in downtown square. We didn’t go to San Francisco. Don't let this foreign mine come in and create genocide on the native people here. Thank you.

[00:44:50.04] John Anderson

My name is John Anderson and I want to thank you for coming today and giving us the opportunity to speak. What I am hearing wherever I go, and I've been to all these villages - I'm lucky - I've been on all these river systems from Egigik to Good News, I've hunted Iliamna Lake to the Mulchatna, the Nushagak the Kvichak. What I am hearing is fear. Robin touched on it. A dam up there with all of that waste would be just like a time bomb. Almost like having a bomb on the plane, it's just a matter of time until there is an earthquake. They are terrorizing everyone here. They are scaring us, because they are trying to take away our lifestyle. Everyone mentioned salmon, but it goes a lot further than salmon. Thank you.

[00:46:26.14] Daniel Cheyette

Good afternoon. My name is Daniel Cheyette and I work for BBNC. Thank you EPA for travelling out to our region and taking the comments and hearing the concerns of our residents and thank you to the community of Levelock for hosting this meeting and allowing me to participate. I've lived in Alaska for 16 years, but I grew up on the outside. Like you, I grew up with a sense of my home town. It was a sense of community, but not a sense of place. As you likely are learning on this trip. Bristol Bay is much different. Everyone who lives here has a deep and strong sense of place. There is a powerful connection to the lands and waters andthe resources of BB. It is a connection that starts before birth. It is genetic. It is handed down through the generations and it is also learned from a very young age. A connection told in stories from parents and elders and experienced first hand. Toddlers accompany parents and grandparents fishing, hunting, berry picking. They participate at home to store that food and save it. It is part of the family experience for anyone who grows up in Bristol Bay, and as a result, this land its water and its resources become a part of who you are. This is a connection without a price tag and it cannot be replaced. If it is lost, it is lost forever. That is why everyone you have heard is so passionate. It is also why we are grateful for the watershed assessment. The assessment encapsulates in scientific terms, what everyone here knows in their hearts and their DNA - that this is a unique and special place that cannot be risked. I want to address the watershed assessment timeline. The 60-days for review and comment are more than sufficient. The watershed assessment is not an action document, it is a planning document. More important, it focuses on a single activity, t he impact of large scale mining. The public documents at both the state and federal levels have comparable time periods of 60-70 days. For example, the BB area plan, the state planning document for this entire region, not just a watershed, but focused on all watershed uses, not just one - and that dictates all future actions on state lands, not just describing potential impacts, had a 75 day comment period. The simple truth is that anyone who tells you that 60-days is not enough are simply advocating for delay. EPA should not accept that. It should stay the course and finalize the assessment on the current timeline. As you have heard here and elsewhere, the people of Bristol Bay have had the specter of large scale mining development handing over them for many years. Letting the process stall and delay longer than 60-day for public comment is not only unwarranted, it is unconscionable. The people of BB and the shareholders of BBNC ask you to finalize the assessment on schedule. Thank you.

[00:50:20.05] Kendall Barbery

First of all I want to say thank you very much. I don't know many of you here and the people I know, I have just recently met, so I appreciate your hospitality and welcoming me into your community and sharing your foods. My name is Kendall Barbery. I grew up in SE Virginia, but I've lived in Egegik for the past eight years as a seasonal fisher since 2006. I am a Masters Student at the Yale school of forestry and environmental studies. I am dedicating a lot of my time there to the development of the Pebble Mine. As a side note, in Connecticut there are no wild salmon. I'd like to suggest a possible improvement to the EPA watershed assessmentregarding the reservoir and mine induced seismicity. I'm appreciative of the efforts of the EPA and giving some credence to the risk of induced seismicity in the assessment, I believe on page 4-38, yet I'm a little disappointed to find that it warranted only one paragraph and a single citation from a 1976 study. Additional and more current data is available that addresses the link between mining, tailings activity and seismic activity. Mining, mine pit dewatering and eventual refilling of the mine pit, as well as tailings storage, may increase pore pressure beneath the site and lubrication, tectonic stress and fault slip in a mine site. Even at low magnitudes, current triggered earthquake could lead to increased liquefaction, tailings pond failure and chronic contamination of the Bristol Bay watershed. The size of the proposed operations at the Pebble Mine site, along with the potential development of other adjacent mineral deposits could significantly impact the water balance across th e landscape and have serious implications for the tectonic stability of the proposed mine and the surrounding region. Although the Lake Clark fault is considered inactive, a 2002 study which I can provide you with citations, suggests that triggered earthquakes are just as likely in stable as in active tectonic settings. Induced seismicity may increase the probability of tailings impoundment failure, and that is something that we cannot risk here in BB. For that reason, I think it warrants further study by the EPA. Risks must be thoroughly addressed to protect BB resources and its vibrant communities. Thank you.

[00:53:17.04] Greg Andrew, Jr.

A lot of good testimony here. Hello, my name is Greg Andrew, Jr. I am originally from Kokhanok, AK, from Lake Iliamna. My dad and grandparents were from the Lake Iliamna area, and my mother is from Aniak? on the Kuskokwim River. I am the administrator for the Levelock village council. I have five children and five gr andchildren. I would like to thank the EPA for taking the time to do the assessment on the Kvichak and Nushagak River drainages - drainages that produce at least half of the world's supply of salmon. I like what I see in the assessment about how important the supply of fish and wildlife and the land are to the natives of the area, who depend on it for their subsistence lifestyle that we so choose to live. I would also like to thank BBNC and the Levelock village corporation - not afraid to stand up and voice for what is right for the majority of the members who oppose the mine. Which other corporations should have done. I'd also like to thank Nunamta and Trout Unlimited for their part in trying to keep the BB watershed and lands pristine and intact. We had Pebble here in Levelock explaining their studies of the area at and near the proposed Pebble site. When asked if they were doing anywater quality testing on the Kvichak River, they said yes, they were, but actually the site that they are testing is in the Kaskanak Creek - water that drains into the Kvichak. It is common sense that if the waters upriver are contaminated, then the water downriver will be contaminated as well, and the Kvichak is the only Lake Illimani drainage. I keep hearing how poor and economically depressed we are in this area and how we need the Pebble mine for jobs. I do not believe that we are poor, I believe that we are rich and we are blessed with plenty of fish and wildlife to enable us to live on an in the Nushagak and Kvichak, Lake Iliamna, Bristol Bay area. The fish, wildlife and land that we may not have if the Pebble Mine is allowed to operate. I see

in the assessment that the EPA finds that the damage will be done even if the mine worked perfectly. This is unacceptable and it is someth ing that we knew before the draft assessment came out, and it is why we fight to keep our ways, our waters and land in the perfect condition that they are today and that they will be for years into the future, hopefully. The Pebble Mine would be a short term economic gain for only a handf ul of people, most of whom are not from the country, at the expense of long-term stability for the local people who will be affected by the mines impact. They talk of seeing the mine go through to give people in the region jobs. But if the mine were to go through and the area is devastated, due to an accident or something, then what reason is there for anyone to stay in the BB area? Without life sustaining fish and wildlife for subsistence and commercial use that we depend on and enjoy today and hopefully for generations to come. Once again I would like to thank EPA for doing the assessment and I would like to urge EPA to take the right step. I think July 23 is an adequate time, and I the 404(c) action to protect the livelihood, well being and existence and the way of life we enjoy today.

[00:57:11.13] Janice Chukwak

My name is Janice Chukwak. Thank you EPA for coming here to hear my plea for help in fighting against the Pebble Mine. You have heard of the beauty and the uniqueness of our heritage, culture and subsistence lifestyles. All life on earth depends on clean, drinkable water. The waters of the Kvichak and Nushagak Rivers are the cleanest, purest, sweetest water that our salmon come back to each and every year. Other species of fish live in the river year round. We know that the salmon come up our rivers to spawn. We depend upon them for food during our long cold winters. We can predict each year the salmon’s return, but Pebble cannot predict the magnitude of a natural disaster or if and w hen it will strike. I have heard how they tell us that the mine and the salmon can coexist, but I have not heard from them is a plan about howthey can take care of the pollution that is a threat to our waters and streams. No emergency preparedness plan to take care of the villages of Igiugig and Levelock on the Kvichak, and Koliganek, New Stuyahok, Ekwok and Portage Creek on the Nushagak. All I see are them offering villages money to buy our trust. No plan for earthquake, no plan for flooding or overflow of the tailings pit. For me that means no plan for my future subsistence. For centuries, my people have lived off the land, not taking any more than what was needed to survive the winter. I know what is expected of me when the fish a rrives and when the berries are ripe I know what I need to do. What I don't know is what will be my life and culture after Pebble. I've asked myself this question many times, trying to see a future, but I come up with a blank picture. What will happen to my native culture? Not knowing what will happen to my kids and grandkids frightens me. Will my new subsistence way of life be gone, will it be taking my grandsons to the store to buy the salmon and other stuff. Is all my hard work will be lost and just memories that will be passed on to them? For them to imagine for them to know what it was like before Pebble and the pollution that it may cause. Please, I asked you to intercede on my behalf and preserve our subsistence way of life and continue to keep our water pure and clean so that we continue for generations to come. I speak proudly today for my family as I have four generations here with me at this meeting. My Mom Olga, my daught er Jenae and my grandson Brayson. Please allow me to become the grandmother that my gram was and that my mom is. To allow me to teach my grandsons Colby and Brayson my way of life. Thank you.

[01:01:04.11] Hans Apokedak

Hi. My name is Hans Apokedak a have been here in Bristol Bay for 40 years. I am a fourth generation commercial fisherman, but a people of the fish for thousands of years. I am against the mine because it threatens my way of life. I am a subsistence user. I can go catch fish without hardly any cost versus going to the store where it is 20-some bucks a pound. I could not afford to go to the store then. I was hoping that this mine wouldn't go in for the future generations. For my daughters and hopefully grandchildren in the future. This fish that we eat and love every year that swims up the river - that is our gold. As far as copper or whatever versus food, I will choose food any day over something that we don't need or depend on like our subsistence. You hear now reports of tuna that are getting radiation or whatever, and I believe that one day in the future, the world will look to Bristol Bay as a solid food that is fresh that is not contaminated. If you bring in the mine, it will bring the fish prices down probably get contaminated. This whole BB region everything and anything depends on fish, from thesmallest living organism to us human beings. If t he fish go away then this whole place will go. Animals and everything from this area depends on it. This Pebble Mine is a threat here. I can't describe how bad it would be and this would be the future. There might not be a major spill today, but tomorrow there might be. No amount of money or "oops, I'm sorry" will make it better, because you can’t bring back the fish. It takes years for Mother Nature to bring something back. With the world and everything that is going to crap and getting contaminated, one day we are going to need this fish. We don't need copper to survive. I don't have a computer or e-mail because I don't need it. I am outdoors because I love it there. It is fun and I want my family and future generations in t housands of years to come enjoy what I have enjoyed. In the future we need to protect this. Like what they do in those parks in the lower 48. You have to bring your poop out, that is how drasti c they are. So the fishing thing here, it shouldn't be a discussion on what is good or bad. It is the way of life and how people are and how dare they come in and think they are going to help us. I'm all for change, but that kind of change is unheard of. It is our backyards. If you are hearing about unemployment and how there aren't jobs, then you must be talking to those people who are unemployed. It is not hard to get a job if you apply yourself and you work. I choose to live here because I love it here, I grew up here. I had a chance to go to Wisconsin once, but I said no, I have to go up the river. I love it here. I choose to live here. The choice is - I don't want to be forced to do anything I don't want and you guys don't want to be forced to, it is our way of life. As I see it, you are our last line of defense on this subject. The state has only been around for 50 years or so and we have been here for thousands of years. You need to listen to the people and that is what I have to say. Thank you for listening

[01:06:18.28] Alexander Tallekpallek

To the Environmental Protection Agency. My name is Alexander Tallekpallek, and I work for Levelock Electric Corporation. I also contribute my time as a planning commissioner for the Lake and Peninsula Borough. I am on the native corporation board here in Levelock. I recently adopted four of my sister’s kids. I am a strong believer of our heritage in Levelock on the Kvichak River. This is my place and subsistenc e home. I would like to thank EPA for travelling to the area and gathering the truth. For our land, our strength, our way of life and our subsistence lifestyle. Today I feel confident about my village and my subsistence way of life and I serve the people to the best of my knowledge. I am a commercial fisherman and I depend on seasonal earnings to prepare for fall and winter months, which helps my family of nine awhole bunch. I am an optimistic person about life and my family's future. I do not see a mine like Pebble Mine passing along, since it does not benefit my family or my native way of life, cultures and keeping our land natural. In the watershed assessment, I read in your report about fish; where they go and where they spawn and how close it would be to the mine. I was surprised how many creeks and how many spawning areas would be destroyed if the mine goes through. I am even more surprised that the mine needs a power source of 500 megawatts to run the mine. That is enough power to provide electricity to a city of such as anchorage Alaska. There is one thing to me that is unacceptable. It stands out nationwide. Contaminating the salmon forever. Allowing the chance will destroy our culture, not now, but for the people 10, 20 or 50 years from now. Our future will only read on how our way of life had been before a mine developed. Our culture is fading fast enough without the mine. I have a huge concern about losing family heritage not only ours, but Alaskan cultures as well. With this mine being a threat here in BB, it would mean that the mining industry has no remorse on any place here in Alaska. There are other places that can be mined before the mining industry destroys our land. I would like to ask EPA with great concern to take action under section 404(c) of the clean water act. We need to continue to provide our nation with the best salmon in the world for our people. I am helping people here in BB because this is my home and my culture and I want to pass this world knowing that our salmon will provide the best food in the world and it is here in Bristol Bay in the lakes, rivers and streams surrounding the proposed mine. Again to the EPA I thank you for hearing my testimony and I thank you for taking the time to provide the vital information on our streams, rivers, lakes and lands up there in the mining area. The Pebble Mine will damage our lifestyle and they will contaminate our fish. This is potential damage that can have an effect on our way of life forever. Please take my message to our Senator Lisa Murkowski, as I am a

concerned Alaskan native.

[01:11:01.00] Gary Cline

My name is Gary Cline. I'm also known as "Yupik name" which means little box. I was named after a respected elder from the village of Koliganek. Many people have been speaking about looking after the future generations. To take only what you need. I was fortunate to come from a family that taught me the traditional knowl edge of ecology. Not only to live in respect and harmony with the environment, but we did that because our people believed in "Yupik word" which means from up above. The person or universe or spirit that lives within the universe, but also lives within Mother Nature. We felt that within our dead animals or plants that they werealways among us. Living through our spirit and with their spirit and if you were to misuse or mistreat that animal or plant their kind would not allow their spirit to return to earth to be born again or return to your family to allow it to be harvested the next year. So that is why we always have taught to respect animals, and why we "Yupik word" to clean the rest of the meat of the bone to show our respect to the animal who gave itself to our family. Like I said, I am fortunate to have elders who taught me these ways. I want to be able to pass this on to my nephews and cousins. So after looking through some of your assessment and noting that 30% of the salmon might be destroyed from the Koktuli River off the Mulchatna - that is unacceptable in my mind. Like forget who said it earlier. It is the first fish we go after. People have nets out in Dillingham who are waiting for their first kings. Also, it's a 10-20% that may be lost from the Mulchatna. That doesn't even include the Stuyahok River and another river up the Mulchatna. So the potential of losing up to 50% of our sockeye or Chinooks. That is unacceptable, considering that only two years ago only 36,000 went up there. We had to shut down our king fishery and I am giving a sigh of relief that 60,000 made it up last year. A mine puts more stress on this vulnerable population and is unacceptable. I want to pass on the traditions that my grandparents taught me. Please initiate the 404(c) and I request that you do not extend the comment period. As fisherman, we will hav e downtime where we can read and go through the report thoroughly. I want to read the next two sections. I've only seen the first one. I really appreciate the work you do. To me I don't understand why this is a discussion. This is why we created the EPA and the clean water act. We have such a source of fresh water throughout the world, why jeopardize the best sockeye salmon run on the planet. It is a no brainer. Thank you.

[01:16:05.26] Gustie Tallekpallek

My name is Gustie Tallekpallek, I'm a long time resident. I'm not speaking for myself. I'm speaking for people who can't speak for themselves. This is proof that we need clean water for the baby bottle. I'm sure you have grandchildren also. You need clean water for their baby bottles. You let the Pebble Mine come in and contaminate the water and kill the fish, you think about their future the kids here. You kill the fish, you hurt our babies. This is very precious here. We need our future to continue and to keep the water clean and safe. See he is crying for clean water. I speak for people who can't speak for themselves. I love clean water. I bathe, eat drink out of it. That is all I have. Thank you.

END************



### Note: This is not a certified transcript. This record of oral comments was transcribed by Judy Smith, EPA Community Involvement Coordinator fr om audio recordings taken at the EPA public meeting held in Levelock, Alaska beginni ng at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, June 6, 2012. Every effort was made to transcribe the testimony a ccurately, but there may be errors or omissions because of background noise during the meeting or the sound quality of the recording.