1

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 

Draft Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment 

Record of Public Comment Meeting 

New Stuyahok, Alaska - Thursday, June 7, 2012 

[00:00:08.17] _001 

Dennis Andrews 

Good evening. My name is Dennis Andrew and I am the Tribal Council President and I also sit 

on Stuyahok Ltd board and also BBNA. Just a few days ago I testified in Seattle, and what I 

would like to see EPA do is stick with the schedule and don't change it for testimonies. I think it 

is very very important. Also, what we want you to use 404(c) that we have been working on with 

the communities and another real big one is that we want to work with EPA in BB basin. We are 

not against EPA we want to work with you guys and I support the assessment. What is really 

important is that this country here, the Nushagak and the Naknek River, the salmon it is a real 

huge watershed. Our kings go up the Koktuli, both forks there. It's totally unacceptable for a 

big project in the headwaters of the Mulchatna, Koktuli and on the Nankek Kvichak side. This 

project is so huge; if it ever goes you could even see it from the moon. We cannot have that. It 

is our way of life here. Some of my trips, I went to EPA office in DC, and stuff that I've told 

them. This country is our dinner table. We have been surviving from way back, from early 

1900's, from our old fishermen from sailboat days, all the way back. Our same fish still come 

back to these waters. To top it off, this salmon here, all the five species here, feeds the ocean 

also, not just the rivers. There are 40 million salmon that do come up and not just fish we are 

talking about our caribou and our moose, our ptarmigan, our berry picking. As we speak today, 

herring season has gone by. Bird season. They have been gathering eggs and stuff and now 

we are waiting on the kings to show up to survive through the winter. Like I said strongly, we 

support the assessment, what you guys did, and we want to thank EPA that they came out with 

the assessment. I want to thank you for coming to New Stuyahok and other villages, but as I 

said before, don't change your schedule. Stick to your schedule. Thank you. 
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Sound files_002 and _003 

Mary Hanson (Elder speaking in Yupik) 

Translator [00:04:45.11]: I interviewed her before the meeting. Basically she talks about the 

same things she talked in Yup'ik. She recounts many years ago living above the Mulchatna. 

She recounts moving around to many places like the Swan River area. They lived off the land 

and they ate everything from it, and they used water. They gathered wild ferns, sour duck, wild 

celery and when berries were in season, they berries that were first harvested were the 

blueberries, followed by the black and red berries. They harvested in the springtime, April, they 

harvested ducks and woodland birds, geese. And in the spring time, before they migrated, 

upriver, they gathered pikes from creeks and streams and they also gathered whitefish and 

these were prepared, dried. They also gathered beaver and ground squirrels and she said we 

are here because our land and water were so pure. When my six children were young, we used 

to go to Lewis Point and there I subsisted salmon. In my day, she watched sailboats. Back 

then the pay was very little, but her Dad got basic necessities such as flour, sugar, coffee and 

tea. She mentioned also that the reason they are here today is because they lived off the land 

and today her children and grandchildren still live off the land. 

Sound file _004 

Natashia Neketa (Elder in Yup'ik) 

Translator: [00:02:17.26]: All her life, she raised eight kids who are adults now. She worked 

very hard and worked hard on salmon. All of Stuyahok know, most of Koliganek and Ekwok 

know of this strong woman. She could run skiffs, we call boats with motors skiffs. She could go 

anywhere and gather wood. She put up fish and even went back and forth to Lewis Point with 

her family. She did that because she worked on salmon, she subsisted and she commercial 

fished. After commercial fishing was over there would still be fish she would return back to the 

fish campgrounds and quickly work to subsistence fish. She would fillet them, hang them, the 

works and then she said that she has a very heavy heart for our future on account of Pebble 

Mine, because she doesn't want Pebble Mine to go through. Many of us who work on salmon, 

we work really hard to keep our way of life. If Pebble goes through, we will have no fish to keep 

us alive. Most of us are alive because our salmon kept us alive. We didn't have jobs many 

years ago, but we were rich if we had fish. We ice fished too. 
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Sound file 005 

Gust Blunka (Elder in Yup'ik) 

Translator: [00:00:27.01] Some elders do not feel comfortable speaking - it’s not our culture to 

be up front: As long as I could remember, my parents relied on fish. My kids are adults now; 

they work on fish, salmon. I am very happy EPA support our fish and water and I believe we 

must keep our water clean. 

Sound file _006 

Massa Gumlickpuk (Elder in Yup'ik) 

Translator: [00:03:16.25] As long as I could remember we ate fish as children. I lived here and 

when there was no school, we would migrate upriver and above the Mulchatna in search of 

food. Our salmon made us who we are now. When school opened here in Stuyahok we began 

living here. We raised our kids - me and my husband had six. Me and my husband, we used to 

transport to Lewis Point. We would put up salmon there and before I would leave we would put 

up dried pike, beaver, dried moose meat. My husband gathered from the land on foot. He was 

a fisherman back then and he commercial fished. Today, because my children watched me put 

up fish they follow our footsteps. I have 20 grandchildren, 19 and three others that are greatgrandchildren. I want to thank EPA for keeping our waters safe and please keep fighting for our 

younger generation so they can have salmon in the future. 

Sound file _007 

Nick Wyagon (Elder in Yup'ik) 

Translator: He was born in 1923 or 24. He was our first ancient singer and drummer, but now 

he is so aged he can’t hear very good. This is what he had to say: We are in perilous times in 

regard to the Pebble Mine. What our ancestors talked about is here. Greed. Those people 

talked about how we will have to pay for our water. It's here. Water is so important - we dig 

wells now for water. Me and my family spent many years putting up fish, salmon. I was a 

sailboat fisherman. My wife was a subsistence person. We survived on salmon. I was born in 

Nunamchuck(?) in 1923 and I was raised there. We used to relocate up the main river or 

anywhere above Mulchatna. I have a cabin up at the Mulchatna. It is used by my sons and 

great-grandsons when they gather fish and game. My ancestors had full access to all of Alaska. 

We lived, gathered and survived on this land, even to this day. 
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Sound file _009 

Natalia Wassilliey (Elder) 

Hi. My name is Natalia Wassilliey and I am 66 years old. Grandma of 20 grandkids, the 

youngest will be 2 next month. Seven great grandkids. That is why I am sitting here now, to 

keep our lands and rivers the way that God gave them to us. The way they have been for 

generation to generation so that we could do our subsistence way of life. Berry picking, moose 

and caribou hunting, mostly fishing. Right now we are getting excited for the kings to come up 

our river. For everyone works together cutting fish. To dry, salt or vacuum pack for the winter. 

We do not waste anything, because we fish. Around here it is gold, gold to us which we 

treasure. When we fill our dry rack, we go walking and help one another. If we see another 

lady, whether it is an elder or a young lady, we stop and help. Sometimes without even asking 

we stop we ask for an Ulu(?) knife and we help them. We work as teamwork. If Pebble Mine 

goes through, we might as well kiss our subsistence way of life away. Even though they say 

nothing will affect our land or water, it will. Drainage will go to our water, which comes down the 

Mulchatna. Fish and the wildlife drink water and use water. Like right now. It's been raining for 

two days and the river has gone up. Our creeks will overflow. Nobody can say fish don't go to 

this or that river. It can't be stopped it can’t be fixed. If the Pebble Mine goes through and the 

drainage goes down to our water, nothing will stop it. It will go all over. In the future I hate to 

see a big ugly empty pit, which they leave once they take out the entire gold etc. Since it's not 

their land, they don't care how they leave it, because they are not from the surrounding area. If 

we went to their land and tried to do the same thing, they wouldn’t like it. They would try not to 

have us do the same thing. So please leave our beautiful land like it was even since before I 

was born u to now. I want my kids and grandkids to be able to enjoy our beautiful land and live 

off of it forever like we did. When I do attend Pebble Partnership meetings; that does not mean 

I am for Pebble. I go to learn more. Money talks. Even if it does go through, I want to know 

what we could do to help our kids and grandkids in the future. When I do go to Pebble 

Partnership and come back, I hear people say, "Oh, you are for Pebble." I tell them that is not 

true. I speak out and tell them that I oppose it. I oppose in their faces. I want to show a 

painting that was done by my granddaughter who is sitting there. She is seven years old, she 

said, Grandpa, you and my Nana, you put fish on the table and they are up there. And that 

brown up there is where we dry our fish and there are houses, a red one, and we have puppies 

back there in the cage. That goes to show you that even kids know something about our 

fishing. Thank you very much. 
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Sound file _010 

Sacally Wonhola (Elder in Yup'ik) 

Translator: All of our elders here look after our youth as a whole and we have been talking with 

our kids and letting them know about the future and how they should behave and how they 

should grow up. You mention that in 1963 they would travel to spring places. Back in 1963 he 

went over to Newhalen, and not sure if he had been there before, but at the intersection from 

where the airport is to the store, there is a post office on the right hand side as you come into 

Newhalen. There were caribou and moose in abundance in that area. Now lately, there isn't 

any more moose to be seen in that area. He mentioned that we had five Russian guests who 

came down, and the salmon runs that they had and the bears that they had back in their day 

were was mining projects going on in Russia. But since they started development in that area, 

they no longer see salmon or bears. They inquired as to how we planned to stop the Pebble 

Project and how we are going to take care of the land. He also mentioned that our youth today 

are brought up in the technological world. They are taught the subsistence way of life, but 

today, most them o longer speak the Yup'ik language, and we should return to that. 

Sound file _011 

Timothy Wonhola 

First of all I'd like to thank everybody who is sitting in here. I know many of you come from long 

ways and I appreciate what EPA has tried to do in each and every village that they have visited. 

Each resident that they visited are representing their village. I really really really cherish the 

water systems that we have around here. I chaired the watershed from its grassroots for six 

years as the chairman. Now Nunamta come into place to see that it became a tool for our 

future generations yet to come. It makes me happy to be part of that and to be part of an elder 

in this village now. Because there is so many things in life that we would really really like to 

have. One thing we really want is well being of our families and well being of our surroundings 

and well being of our nature that we walk in for many years. We have kept it clean from our 

parents parents that gave it to us and thought about it. We learned from our parents how to 

take care of things and they in turn take care of us. We need to do that to the younger 

generations yet to come. I cherish the water so much. Because we have the feeling that 

nothing would be alive. We have so many things in common, everywhere I look in here. Clean 

water and the EPA can provide that. One thing that we know we live on laugh on perish on. 
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There is three things we know on this planet. One of them is water. The other one is land. The 

third one is air. Without them there is nothing. That is why we need to cherish what remains. I 

would really like to see that happen. I really appreciate you coming from long ways to hear us 

out. Because once the mine goes through there will be so much banging of the dynamite that is 

blasting and for what 100 years. And if those things happen there will be nothing around the 

mining areas. Zero. The subsistence way of life that I cherish so much would be gone. For the 

younger generations yet to come we need to have that in place. Just like what Harvey 

Samuelsen taught me. No matter what happens, around your region, don't ever let the mining 

go through. Today I cherish his testimony on that. To pass on to the other generations yet to 

come. I really really appreciate all the important people who come to sit on behalf of behalf of 

New Stuyahok and on behalf of the other villages because this village is the first that would be 

impacted by the mine. There is other mines that we need to talk about besides Pebble in this 

region. I am also one of the state park members. I also cherish that, because in the park 

system there is so much fish that goes into spawning grounds as well as the Nushagak and the 

Kvichak and it would be so ugly to see that big mountains of tailings go, because the others 

used to tell me, one of these days this river will turn red and I know what red is - it is the orange 

color of tailings. That is what they used to speak about the elders. Even in our church systems, 

our religion, water is blessed everywhere. We need clean water. It is a renewable resource. I 

really cherish those things and I thank you for coming and listening on my behalf. From my 

parents although they are long gone, I still cherish them. I cherish what is to come for future 

generations because I have a grandson now who I really love. He keeps me going. 

[00:07:21.28] 

Jasmine Kritz 

Hello. My name is name is Jasmine Kritz. I am 19 years old and the oldest of 8 children. I 

grew up moving back and forth between Togiak and Aleknagik and I currently reside in 

Dillingham. The fish has been a very big part of my life. At a very young age I was taught by 

my grandparents how to split fish and the process of drying fish. Unfortunately, if the Pebble 

Mine is approved and carried through with, I will no longer be able to continue to split or put 

away fish, let alone teach my own children or grandchildren one day. No matter how safe they 

say Pebble Mine could be, there is always the possibility of an earthquake happening or any 

other kind of natural disaster that could cause a leak from the waste the mine has made. I am 

afraid that my generation could be the last to see the beautiful fish that BB has. If the Pebble 
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Mine is approved. Please do what is right so we can keep on subsistence and commercial 

fishing for the rest of our lives. Thank you for listening. 

[00:10:11.07] 

Heidi Kritz 

Hello, good afternoon. My name is Heidi Kritz and thank you for giving me this opportunity. I 

am 17 years old and I am from Dillingham, but I was raised in Togiak and Aleknagik. Growing 

up in a traditional family, I was taught how to tell the difference in fish and how to process them 

properly. My sister and I started with trout and as my grandmother said, as you got older, you 

graduated to better eating fish like reds and more recently kings. At the start of my 8th grade 

year, I was asked what I knew about the Pebble Mine and I didn't know anything. This is when I 

learned that it would be the largest mine in North America, it would be seen from space and it 

would be right on the headwaters of BB. I actively became involved in a group called rebels to 

Pebble. I continued to spread the word on the effects this mine could bring to the environment 

and the native people. If this mine goes through our people would be devastated, because it 

runs the risk of destroying the most important part of our culture and our livelihood. Destroying 

the land we come from won't just affect my generation, it will affect many generations that come 

after mine. Please use your authority to protect our land. Thank you. 

[00:12:17.00] 

Kimberly Williams 

Thank you EPA for the Assessment of potential impacts on the salmon ecosystems in BB. My 

name is Kimberly Williams and I am the Executive Director of Nunamta Aulukestai, which is 

Yup'ik for caretakers of our land. Nunamta is a non-profit corporation whose membership 

includes ten Alaska native village corporations and 10 tribes located in the BB region of Alaska. 

Nunamta's mission is to establish a framework to collaborate in the mission of protection of 

lands and natural resources. I am the third chief of the Curyung Tribal Council, and I thank EPA 

for sitting down with my tribe in government to government consultation. It is too bad that the 

state of AK can't do the same. I would like to speak of the irony that the state of AK wants more 

time for public comment. You have scheduled eight public meetings and a 60-day comment 

period so that we the public could speak to the assessment and we will get another opportunity 

to comment at the peer review of the document. The state of AK should be looking to EPA for 

the right way to get public comment. The state attorney general Geraghty complains that 60 
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days is inadequate. He had the audacity to ask for four months for the public and state to 

address the technical and legal merits of this assessment. Yet, the audacity of industry 

representatives who express their alarm that the public isn't given sufficient time to respond. 

How ironic and how hypocritical. For the last 24 years, the mining companies have been 

exploring for copper and gold on the state lands in the headwaters of BB, hoping to develop the 

largest mine of its type in North America. They have drilled 1200 bore holes some more than a 

mile deep and used fragile tundra and wetlands as their waste dump; criss-crossed subsistence 

areas with tens of thousands of helicopter flights and removed millions of gallons of water from 

streams and ponds that support spawning salmon and other freshwater fishes. They have done 

all that with the states permission without public notice, without inviting public comment and 

without public hearings. While AK regulators have permitted industrial scale exploration, they 

have never asked the public to comment on whether the state should permit in the headwaters 

of the world’s premier sockeye salmon fishery, nor have they asked the tribal governments who 

the federal government recognizes. Nor have they asked the indigenous people who are Yup'ik 

and Dena'ina, who are real people with an intact and thriving salmon based culture, which this 

assessment recognizes and sets out to get our comments about a mine scenario that could 

produce billions of tons of toxic waste that could be stored forever, held back by an earthen 

dam. Thank you for gathering the science and a mining scenario to address the potential 

impacts that a large scale mine will do to our salmon streams and the impact it will have on us 

as a people. We are represented by trustees for AK, and we went to court seeking, and here I 

will use some of the attorney generals own words "an adequate opportunity to address the 

technical and legal merits of the state exploration permit." The issue is on appeal to the state 

supreme court and the state adamantly insists that the public has no right to even know about 

such permits in advance, let alone comment on them. The state systematically avoids any 

public notice before it grants mining exploration and water permits. They asked you for 60 

days? They never asked us. Never. Even when the state does allow public comment, as it did 

for the Rock Creek gold mine near Nome. The comment period is half as long and the state is 

downright stingy in granting more time. It allowed the public just three extra days to comment 

on Rock Creek and they approved the project and then were forced to shut it down when the 

warnings from the critics proved accurate. Had the state been doing its job for the past two 

decades, it would have by now its own full record of public participation on the very issues 

raised by your draft assessment, and it would have undertaken its own analysis of whether 

exploration and development are in the best interest of the state. The state would not need 60 

days to comment on the draft; rather they have been doing everything in their power both 
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politically and through regulation to grease the wheels for development. They are ready to 

defend their rigorous permitting process and are quick to tell EPA "hands of Alaska" because 

their rigorous permitting process is out there. But I am here to say, their use of a marine land 

classification in their own Bristol Bay area plan is their way for them to make it easier for 

permitting. We all know in this room that there are no walruses around the Pebble site, so the 

marine classification used by the state is worthless. So, if the state of AK is interested in 

seeking public comment, through their exploration phase of the Pebble deposit, which is a large 

scale mine that gets addressed in your assessment, they would already know and conclude that 

mining at this scale would cause a loss of spawning and rearing habitat for both anadromous 

and freshwater fishes. The loss of wetlands that support migratory birds and habitat for other 

large game. I would like to speak to other comments that have been given around the region. It 

is not your role to solve for jobs in our region, nor is it your job to solve the declining population 

or the closing of the schools in our region. Your role is clean water and the protection of these 

waters. The regulations need to ensure that we have clean water. Thank you for doing this 

assessment and doing what the state of AK should be doing. Tell them that the comment 

deadline is July 23. Thank you. 

[00:18:29.11] 

Luki Akelkok (Elder) 

Hello EPA people. I'm glad you guys are around. I was listening to all the elders and they were 

saying what I was supposed to be saying. I'm an elder you know. I've here living all my life. 

We have been fighting this Pebble Mine since it started. We got this Executive Director there 

and started the Nunamta Aulukestai so we can protect our resources, or land and all that stuff 

and get involved with that and get an organization started. Then the Pebble Mine came and 

that is what we have been focusing on since the start of the mine. We have been at it since 

2000 or 2001. There are a lot of resources that we are trying to protect. It would ruin all our 

clean water and land and everybody has the most clean land and water. It is going to pollute 

the land and then we tell it to the mining company in Reno out there and it was then we learned 

that it didn't look good. We went to a mine or two and kind of learned more about what would 

happen if the mine would ever go through. I've been in this from the start and sometimes it has 

been pretty tough. As I was listening to the elders, they say we got to start working together 

and have one voice because we don't have one voice. One voice will win. We need to get 

united and work together. The old people used to work together way in the back. The worked 

to protect native rights. In the olden days, the old people used to say (talks in Yup'ik). They talk 
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about the salmon and it's already declining in the water of the Koktuli River. I've been travelling 

around up there a lot. It has been declining slowly. When I started there used to be so much 

sockeye and king salmon up there. I have a cabin up there where they spawn. You could hear 

the fish splish splashing all night. Now you can't even hear them anymore. There is only a 

handful. I also go upriver and talk to those people who are sport fishing. Getting dropped off at 

Frying Pan Lake. It's changing. There are no more trout and no more kings and you look up 

there and there is no more testing of salmon. No more of those fish around where they used to 

be. You don't see so much bears anymore fishing at the river there. When there used to be a 

lot of fish the beach used to be just lay down with fish and you would see nine or 10 bears up 

there fishing. Now it is just going away. They call that the place that was a calving area for the 

caribou. Now I never see a caribou up there in the last four or five years. Not so many years 

ago there used to be a herd of 200,000 caribous. That herd declined and now the Mulchatna 

herd moved up north. They have the collars where they followed them. There is a lot of stuff 

happening and I heard a lot of comments about Pebble Mine. The land is where we live off of. I 

started doing that when I was a kid. I used to help my grandparents. I only went to the 5th 

grade. I had to get out of school to try to put food on the table with the animals. All the resources 

we have on our land here. Our land is our food. I talked to some of these people and I heard 

some of the elders were talking way back. They used to fish salmon and the salmon weren't 

worth much. $100 would buy a whole worth of grubstake but now days it don’t. If the mine ever 

goes through, how are the people going to survive in the winter? Everybody stock up with 

salmon and moose and freshwater fish. Freshwater fish was never talked about much. They 

get the those fish, the white fish, and they put them in a cave and get them soft and it gets soft 

and sour like Tillamook cheese and then they are delicious to eat. They say you don't waste 

any fish. You put the heads in the ground and make some stinky heads and they are better 

than ice cream. Then they talked about guts, they mix them with guts. They put some clay with 

them. I was raised with the elders since my teenage years. I went to fifth grade. I wish I went 

to high school and graduated college. I don't know what I would be if I went that high. But I've 

been involved in politics since my younger days. I'm really against Pebble Mine and they don't 

come and talk to me. Some of them I say hey I know you for years and we need to talk. You 

know the EPA people are the key people to keep clear water and fresh air and all that. We did 

Clean Water Act way back and that went kaput. Somebody speaker up and ruined the whole 

situation. Some of you know who I'm talking about. That was sad. I was involved in the clear 

water and clean air. You hear most of the important issues from the elders and we don't want 

Pebble Mine. I guess that is enough. 
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[00:27:37.09] 

Richard King 

My name is Richard King. I am from downriver. I would like to thank you guys for coming. The 

assessment that you have done is really the only breath of fresh air that we have gotten on this 

Pebble Mine chair. You listened to the Nunamta chair and what she said about the state and 

the timeline for the public comment. The state does not grant us anything like that. We should 

do a 404(c) now and I read your assessment and I have a couple of quick points. On the water 

reserves for what the mine takes out - and puts back in there - that is not enough for us to 

navigate the river. On low water years we won't be able to traverse our boats across the 

sandbars because it’s only ankle deep. One other thing I notice is that you don't declare king 

salmon as an endangered species. They are the rarest of all salmon. In your own comments, 

you stated that 30% of them would be affected. Well a lot of them go up into the Koktuli and 

they spawn there. To lose that species even more would be a bad thing. I always attended the 

AK forum on the environment; John Shively and the Pebble Partnership were there. They 

would sit at the head of the room and we were forced by the state of AK to write all of our 

questions on a card and they screened all of our questions, they screened them all. The state’s 

request to make the commenting period longer I don't think that is the right thing to do. I think 

you ought to do 404(c) now. Were any of these people in Anchorage when you were there? 

Were any of the people in the BBNC room? We had asked him so he knows. We need to do 

404 (c) now and that is all I got to say. 

New sound file 

Bryce Edgmon 

My name is Bryce Edgmon. I represent the New Stuyahok area as well as Ekwok as well as 

representing the greater part of the watershed area. A couple thoughts I would like to leave you 

with today since I have testified before. One is, I've been able to sit through the hearings and 

as time has gone on, I've been able to grasp the dynamics. Some of those dynamics are 

political in nature. Certainly the dynamics of the time line being extended is a non-issue. I've 

been able to observe at the meetings at Dillingham and Naknek that the attendance has been 

very robust and the people are very engaged and very active. I would argue that if you came 

out to get local testimony that you couldn't have come out at a better time, because you got 
12

everybody before both commercial and subsistence fishery season starts and this is the ideal 

time to get the testimony. In addition, I would argue that the political dynamic that all the entities 

who want to extend the comment period are well funded pro business and trade organizations 

that have a great amount of presence in Juneau, Washington DC, Houston, Vancouver BC. 

Wherever they are they have great access to technical staff, legal staff. They have the ability to 

provide commentary on short order on anything that might come in front of them. Regarding the 

state’s request to extend the timeline period, I'm only left to wonder if the reason they need 

more time is because they have never come out and done an assessment on the watershed 

themselves. I don't think that they have. As a legislator, I've ask them to come out and look at 

the entire area as a whole and a request that has many times over fallen on deaf ears. So I 

strongly support the assessment, I would request that going through this assessment as I did 

that there not be any major revisions to this study, that the assessment be allowed to move on 

into its final form so that it can be submitted to be part of the process. If the Pebble Partnership 

gets to the permitting stage this fall, we want this assessment done to have the ability to have 

your agency and all of its resources, technical and otherwise, to have had that broad brush look 

at the whole area, and to look at it, not only from a cumulative risk standpoint, but also from the 

ecological value. What is the value of this region, and how does it tie in on this perhaps small 

footprint that could have devastating impacts all over the entire area if it is allowed to go forward 

and there is some kind of catastrophe. I will close that I have had some time to reflect on the 

value of the assessment, and I think the true value of the assessment will rise above the Pebble 

Mine and any of these other prospective large-scale mineral developments because, as I look at 

the resources we have here in Alaska to put towards mega projects, whether it be gas pipelines 

or Susitna Dam or whether it is rare earth mining in southeast or other mineral development 

projects, our government agencies are strapped. We don't really have the manpower to be able 

to deal with all these project should they happen at one time, and there is the possibility that 

they could happen at one time. This assessment can help us in Alaska understand the value of 

this very highly productive world class watershed, but also lend itself to smaller projects in the 

future, whether it be extractive mining or any other activity that might take place here. I would 

like to say thank you very much for coming to ground zero of a project like the Pebble Mine, 

because they are directly downriver. I want to thank all the elders for testifying today, and I 

want to give my appreciation for the hard work you have done as an agency in putting this 

assessment together. 
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[00:04:39.00] 

Jimmy R Hurley 

My name is Jimmy R. Hurley and I reside in Ekwok and I am speaking for myself tonight 

although I sit in a lot of different positions for Ekwok. One thing I would say with this Pebble 

Project is that with everybody hem hawing and hollering back when things started, you should 

really appreciate Peter over here who opposed the mine when we were invited by Northern 

Dynasty. The first guy to stand up and oppose the mine because of the risks. It has been a 

long battle since then, and I bowed out on some of that stuff because I saw that there were a lot 

of risks, and I for one own a lot of property up there. I own land (listed several places) and also 

up close to mines. My concern is that when you implement something, you have to look at the 

land adjacent to it in this assessment. I have land that is going to be valuable that I will pass on 

to my kids. We see and we talk about by-catch. We are talking about kings today. As of today 

there have been 50,000 kings caught in the Bering Sea. No one is talking about that. There is 

so much to say for or against, maybe jobs and whatever, but even today, even EPA cannot tell 

us they can stop the mine because there is too much money in this. There is billions and 

billions of dollars. It's not to say that you are going to roll over and play dead, but you have a lot 

of people concerned about the future and who knows what the future is. If they did stop it, there 

are other areas over here where there are other mines, so I encourage you to think about that. 

When you take that home to bed, put it under your pillow and wish hard, but you can't get 

everything. It is going to be a struggle every way, whichever way you are looking. There are 

elders. My family and my wife’s family, they came in the 1800's and traded up and down the 

river. My grandfather was a good man and he helped all of the people. That is the way it is 

when you are there to help people who, you have to try. I'm not going to say too much for or 

against Pebble, but we got to live with it, everyone in the room has to live with it. If we stop it or 

we don't that is what is going to happen. 

[00:09:13.20] 

Norm Anderson (Elder) 

Thank you. First of all I would like to thank New Stuyahok for allowing me to testify on their 

tribal lands. I'm originally from Naknek. My church name is Nicolayo. I'm the Economic 

Development Program Manager for the BBNA. I’ve been there about five years. Prior to that I 

was on the BBNA board of directors. We established the EDC program. For those of you who 
14

don't really have the scope of what BB is, we have over 40,000 square miles, 31 villages, and 

29 that are inhabited. About 10,000 native shareholders. We are led by the BBNC. Recently, 

the partnership of all the BB's, the health, housing, economic development and other 

corporations partnered up and put together the BB regional visions project. In this project, we 

travelled to each of the village twice and talked to the people about what they wanted to see in 

terms of education, economics, energy and commercial and subsistence fishing. This was to 

see how our corporations and associations could work together. It had nothing to do with 

mineral or hydrocarbon, although some of the villages thought we were gearing up for that, it 

was to put together strategic plans for our corporations, for our comprehensive plans for our 

tribes to work on. We needed to have the impetus to lay things out in programs before us. 

When it does come down to minerals and hydrocarbons, the cumulative impacts really need to 

be studied because, if we do have an influx of populations that come in here, our social 

programs are going to be impacted significantly. We don't have health care facilities to take 

care of more people. Are hospitals are being cut down. The federal funds, energy programs, 

educational programs, our schools are being cut. We have villages that are closing schools. 

Programs and budgets, police are being cut. All of the programs that affect us on a daily basis 

are going to be impacted because of the population increase. All of these people who do come 

in are going to be wanted to be subsistence or commercial hunters, and that will impact us as 

the competition for moose and caribou and fish increases. Everyone wants to come to BB and 

the draw for those who don't come out here to make it their mainstay, do so for commercial or 

support reasons. We are home to some of the largest animals and their numbers are 

significant, because we as native people were only taught to take what we need, as we live a 

subsistence lifestyle. It is crucial; it is the way we were taught. The reason we have plenty of 

lean water and berries and stuff is because we gingerly and carefully live in harmony with the 

land and only take what we need. We don't destroy the land where we get our berries, because 

we know that is where the animals feed. We can go back to the traditional places and hunt 

culturally for what we see around us. The abundance of food we shared today was what we 

referred to as our country food. It is a main part of our lives. If we were to go home and look 

into people’s freezers, you are not going to see chicken or pork. You are going to see berries 

and fish and that sort. It is the most important part; it is the common denominator for everything 

we do in BB is to be assured that we take care of our land and our waters and our air. It is a 

very important part. I'm going to keep my comments like my Mom, short and sweet, because I 

think it’s important that as we get closer to ground zero you can hear the tension in the air, and I 

want to hear more comments from local people. Again, I want to thank New Stuyahok for the 
15

opportunity to visit, and I know as you flew in here that you saw how beautiful this country was 

and we want to be sure that seven generations from now they have that also. Thank you. 

[00:14:31.27] 

Joe Chythlook 

Good afternoon. You have heard from me a couple of times. I am Joe Chythlook. Chairman of 

BBNC board. Born and raised in this area. I share many of the same concerns that our people 

have. One point that I want to bring out is that Pebble Partnership claims that by talking the way 

we do, that we are trying to scare people. I want to say that ever since I was 2-3 years old I was 

scared of white people. It's nothing new. Anyway, we have a right to be afraid of what is 

happening, because we live in this land. Any risks to our livelihood, our lifestyle and our 

subsistence foods, our commercial fishing foods and all of our other foods that these people 

have shared with you today are all part of our culture. If there is any risk that you guys have 

identified and I'm glad that you have. I have spoken to several of those at other meetings this 

week. One of them is our king salmon. This river here is the main producer of king salmon in 

BB. If anything were to happen up in the headwaters to destroy that, a major subsistence food 

that we all love up and down river, even from Aleknagik where I am a tribal member, would be 

lost. This is a concern that we all share. Then as far as the timeline for the assessment. I think 

we all agree, and I have heard most of the people who testify agree that your timeline is 

something that needs to happen as soon as possible. We have been in this battle long enough. 

We want to see something start happening that can assure Alaska native people in this area 

that our waters, our way of life will continue to be protected. For some of the young people, that 

the elders spoke about here, I have three grandkids, and it just so happens that my boy married 

some gal from Oregon. I asked my grandson where he came from the other day when I was in 

Anchorage visiting, and out of the blue, without me thinking, he said he was half American! 

What I'm trying to teach him is that being Alaska Native is just as American as anybody else. 

We have been here in America for many years. We thank you for your efforts to help us and I 

hope I you will put your assessment into practice as soon as possible. 

[00:18:27.29] 

Wally Gust (Father Deacon - Elder) 

I am Wally Gust. I am a Deacon with the church here and you have heard Kim’s report to the 

state of AK and it is falling into deaf ears. I have notes here from 2007 from some of the youth 
16

that you see here. These are notes that they had written to the state of AK. You heard Kim say 

and I will say again, the state is not listening, so EPA I am going to ready briefly if I can go 

through these quickly and if I can't I will let you know. Dear representatives, I am in second 

grade. I want our land left alone. Dear state representatives, don't hurt our animals and our fish 

and our land. Don't run our waters because we want to drink our water and we want animals to 

eat. Hi. My name is Malia (?) and we live in New Stuyahok. We don't want the state to let the 

Pebble Mine come here at New Stu, because we could eat and because we cook all of our stuff 

and have water and just get big if we have water from the river. I am a student at New 

Stuyahok; I know you want the mine to go through because of the money. Dear State 

Representatives, Please don't ruin our water and our animals. We could swim in the water we 

could dive in the water. Please don't ruin our fish and our land. Even the moose and the 

animals. Please don't ruin our land. We want to go hunting for moose and so I can have some 

fish. I get emotional. These are from kids from five years ago and the reason that I bring this 

up is because the state is not listening to us. As a government to government relationship here, 

I ask that EPA exercise their authority to use their veto power so that we can put a halt to what 

is happening in our backyards. I will read one more here. Dear State, Why do you want to ruin 

our land in Alaska? If you ruin our land, we won't have any animals in Alaska. We will miss our 

fish and I will miss ice fishing and hunting. We won't be able to make animals. We live in New 

Stuyahok in Alaska. Why do you want to have the mine to come to Alaska and have money? I 

will miss picking berries in Alaska. These are testimonies from our kids back then. Our state 

representatives don't care about our land. We want to drink the water, swim, hunt and go 

fishing. I am sitting here with a bottle of water container. Should this mine goes through, the 

water that we drink when we go out hunting and ice fishing we will not be able to dip into the 

water and to drink it. We live a simple lifestyle. We drink the waters of the river. Think what it 

would look like if the tailings were to go into the river. This (bottle) is what we would be drinking 

out of. The money that we get from wages or from other means will be spent on water 

containers. We will be drinking water out of plastic. So please I am begging that you exercise 

you authority to veto the Army Corps of Engineers permitting process. Take into heart what you 

just heard. I not only read these to you from five years ago, but I am presenting them to you 

now so that these kids who wrote these five years back, will have something to tell their children 

when they are parents and grandparents in the future. Thank you. 
17

[00:26:04.05] 

Annie Fritze 

I am Annie Fritze. I am originally from New Stuyahok. I live in Dillingham. I want to thank New 

Stuyahok, my home town, for hosting this event. I am a small business owner, relying on the 

beaver, river otter and other fur bearing animals to help sustain my skin sewing business. I am 

also a lifelong subsistence user and a mother of three children and four grandchildren who are 

here today with me, who enjoy our salmon, moose, caribou and other animals and plants. 

Since time immemorial, this magnificent and mostly untouched region has been home to many 

of its indigenous peoples residing along the streams and rivers for centuries and even the 

millennia. They follow the traditional way of life in subsisting off the land and mostly it's valuable 

natural resource, its salmon. Each year more than one million salmon return to the rivers and 

streams, where the salmon hatch and spawn for the next cycle of life. So long as the salmon 

return to the Nushagak River to nourish its land and water and its people, all other animals will 

find haven and sustenance here too. The spawning and dying salmon help create the soils for 

berries, plants, grasses, shrubs and trees to take root and complete the miraculous circle of life. 

Water is very very important to us. Without clean water, life would not live. Of concern, is the 

development of one of the world’s largest open pit mines located near Iliamna and Lake Clark. 

This mine will lay on the headwaters of the Koktuli River, which flows into the Mulchatna, which 

flows into this beautiful Nushagak River, which then flows out to the Bristol Bay. Land and 

water have always been central to the lives of the people, providing a life of subsistence, 

opportunities and largely responsibility. Please act on 404(c) to protect our federal waters that 

mean so much to us. Thank you very much. 

[00:29:28.03] 

Brian Fritze 

This piece of fish right here, it takes water. Water is so important. There is a story I was told 

while going to school. It consists of three young men who they were almost out of fish and they 

couldn't get any food and they were wondering what was going on. They had one piece of dried 

fish left. One boy broke it up and the oldest boy, he went out to get food. He didn't come back, 

he ran out of food. The third brother, he went out and he was lost, he didn't have food. The last 

brother, he took the dried fish and he looked at his grandmother and he said I'm going to find 

my brothers. He found his brothers and he only saw skulls that remained on the side of the 

mountain. There is a cannibal that lived up there. You take the food away from us and the 
18

water that is important to this fish and then what we will have? Nothing. No food, no water. 

This mine will devastate us. It is important to us to have the water. In our tradition, we were 

taught orally and by watching and learning. Recently, my mom, she had broken her wrist, so I 

had to learn how to cut fish, because my younger sister wasn't around or my older brother. She 

taught me how to make the water just right with the salt and make the fish strips, how to cut 

them down, how to fillet them. I have a lot of respect for the women now, because that is a lot of 

work! Everything it boils down to is that this water is important to us. We go up every year and 

we go caribou hunting, me and my cousins. We don't take water with us because we know we 

can drink right out of the river. We go up the Mulchatna. Since we were 14 we have been 

travelling like this. We don't need to bring water with us. We could get it straight out of the 

ground as long as there is not beaver. Water is so important. It makes our fish and our food. 

Thank you. 

[00:33:36.23] 

Randal A. Hastings 

Randy Hastings. I appreciate and thank you for coming. I would like to thank you for listening 

to the seven tribes and working on this assessment. I strongly agree with it and I hope you 

push for it. Since I have lived here, 32 plus years, travelling up and down the river, I have 

noticed that ever since the mine started doing exploration up in the Koktuli, the fish and game 

have been depleting more and more every year. So there has been some point of effect from 

exploration. It tells me that if the mine goes through it is going to kill everything. It will be 

devastating. Most everybody in this community and everyone I know who lives in rural areas 

live off the land as I do. Fish and game, berries and vegetation is our main staples of food. I 

appreciate everything you are doing and all of your hard work. Thank you. 

[00:35:18.06] 

Anuska Oyaluk (Elder) 

My name is Anuska Oyaluk from here in New Stuyahok Alaska. I remember when I was a little 

girl growing up, I used to be with my Daddy and my Mom. I know we would travel by canoe, we 

would travel by sled, we would go by foot. I remember lots of elders here in New Stuyahok a 

long time ago. We used to help them out, sharing our native foods. My daddy would talk to me 

and help me to try and understand them when they would talk to me in Yup'ik. Then we had no 

airport here in New Stuyahok. Then when I grew up, I remember when I was sick. No airport. I 
19

remember that when I was getting out they brought a helicopter. I was sick for a long time when 

I was a little girl. They took me some of our water, so I could drink our clear water. Long time 

ago our water used to be dirty. I can’t remember when they took me to the hospital in 

Anchorage and I never woke up. I was so sick. Finally, I wake up myself. Where am I and they 

told me I was in the hospital in Anchorage. For years I finally came back to New Stuyahok in 

1965. We used to go most the time in a skiff, go cast and way up the year I follow up to the 

Koktuli and the Swan River, way up there. For maybe four days we are out in the fish camp. 

We keep on going and going and pretty soon we hardly see caribou, moose and where are the 

animals? Then we see one thing, I think that moose was along upriver at fish camp. I did not 

like to see like this anymore. Then when I first hearing about the copper mining, I was hurting. 

Because I did not like to hear about the copper miner. It might not work out that way. When I 

first hear it, but I think about animals long time ago. I used to see close by. Summertime, when 

I go to fish camp. The animals were really close by when I played down at the beach in the 

wintertime. Now I look for many years now and where did the animals go? They are not here 

close by any more. I reach back our ancestors, because I remember I grow up when we used 

to go picking berries. There was not berries growing very much. Hard work to find bears. We 

go out for that too. I think that one year or two years, we keep on going and going for like 

summer time is coming. We go all over. Finally the berries are growing after the berries are 

really growing we pick the berries. That way of my life. I like to eat native foods. I grew up like 

this when I was a little girl. I did not want to hear about any more copper mine. I am really 

against the copper mine. I think about more fish and animals that are all over. We used to help 

our elders many years ago until I grow up. Sometime, we think about having our fresh, clear 

water. That is our way of life and it is lost in a dark cloud. Please try to keep the clear water 

here in New Stuyahok for many years ago. We finally find some. I'm glad you guys are here. 

Thank you very much. 

[00:45:29.06] 

Evan Wonhola (Elder) 

First off, my name is Evan Wonhola and I am a council member. I graduated from school in 

1973 and lived in New Stu all my life. Right after I graduated, I said to myself that I would live 

off the land and Sacally, one of the elders who spoke earlier, said I'm the youngest of the 

Wonhola boys. When I was growing up I said that I would be very familiar with the Mulchatna 

River system. It's where I trapped; it's where I hunted, and where I fished. I know that area like 

the back of my hand. I know the Koktuli, the south fork and the north fork, and I also know 
20

where my parents came from in Koliganek. They dog sledded over the mouth of the Swan 

River right next to where the Pebble site is. The one thing when I look through your 

assessment, the Swan River is also a flyway from the swans, the geese and all the ducks. It is 

a habitat area for the birds. One thing I wanted to stress - I noticed that after the Pebble Mine 

came in, because I was always fascinated by Mulchatna, my elders stated before, like Greg 

Moxie, an elder who is deceased, in fact he is now buried in below Stuyahok River - the old 

Stuyahok site - he stated to me before he died, that was God's country up there. I was 

fascinated by what that area would bring. While I trapped and hunted all those areas up there 

I've stepped foot on all those mountains. One of the deceased elders said - and it finally came 

to me after he was gone - that he used to say this is in Yup'ik (speaks) Our land here, even 

though there is a lot of money there is no value to the land (Yup'ik) There is no comparison to 

money. This land is precious. We were on our way to Lewis Point, I love to go there every year 

and bring my family. The grandkids that I have are looking forward to splitting fish, looking 

forward to packing fish. We do our subsistence way of life down there. But one thing that I 

wanted to bring out is that we do have graves down there. Our elders who were there before 

us. They were so close to the edge of Lewis Point that we had to move those graves to up the 

hill. We have been in our subsistence way of life for years and years. I feel that if the mine 

went through, this village will be one of the first ones to be affected. It is only 15 air miles from 

here to the mine. That is of concern for this community. I read in the assessment that one of 

the things that I questioned during the meeting in Ekwok, because I am familiar with the area, 

was that the NF and SF Koktuli - the mine is going to be in the middle. There is a lot of fresh 

water that comes out of that mountain on the north side and the south side. It's a concern 

because it is a spawning area for the king salmon and other species, mostly king. My kids are 

really looking forward to going down to Lewis Point, and I told them we are going to be leaving 

after today’s hearing. They are learning how to split fish. My grandson is going hunting like I 

used to. He could walk for miles without me carrying him. Just to take one moose home or in 

Lewis Point he goes after fish. He takes that fish head and takes it back to the camp where we 

subsist. I want to say that I support the timeline that we are going by right now, and I thank EPA 

for coming out and hearing what we have to say. We are concerned. I have always listened to 

our elders; I am familiar with that area. That is my stomping area. Greg Moxie - now deceased - 

his very words before he got deceased - God's country up there. Around here is trash. Up 

there is God's country there is wildlife abundant. A lot of caribou, moose and spawning areas. 

Now, I can only recall only four spawning areas, but I support the EPA 100%. I'd like to see a 

delay in the mining because of our kids. Thank you very much. 
21

New sound file _013 

Sally Gumlickpuk 

I would like to thank EPA for working on the watershed assessment and for listening to the 

people of the region. My name is Sally Gumlickpuk. I am originally from New Stuyahok, but I 

moved to Dillingham. I work for Nunamta Aulukestai and I would like to submit my testimony. I 

am testifying for my grandson who lives in the city of Anchorage, but just lives his subsistence 

food. As soon as he came, he was eating fish in seal oil, and seagull eggs and (?) strips. We 

have practiced our subsistence ways for generations and want to continue doing that for the 

next seven generations to come. To keep on doing that, we rely on the clean water and the 

environment. So I urge you to keep with your timeline as they people of the region have taken 

time from their busiest time of the year preparing for subsistence gathering and the coming 

fishing season. Again thank you EPA for holding your hearings in the village. 

[00:02:17.01] 

Wassillie Andrews 

Thank you very much for coming here to our community. My name is (gave Yup'ik name) and 

Wassillie Andrews. I too like to welcome you to New Stuyahok. I am a born and raised fisher 

and hunter and commercial fisherman like my dad was. He was my first teacher in subsistence 

and commercial fishing. I and my members here in New Stuyahok are very concerned about 

preserving our traditional and cultural lifestyle. We enjoy using this lifestyle that goes back 

thousands of years. Hunting for moose and caribou just to name a few. Fish for king salmon 

and to make trips to hang, smoke and salt fish to be used for cold winter months. Gathering 

spring plants and also berries. I still use my teachings about this lifestyle and I look forward to 

leaving our village here on Sunday and going to our fish camp at Lewis Point. I am a 

commercial fisherman that turned captain in 1978. Salmon, kings, chum, reds, pink and Coho, 

also river whitefish, pike, grayling, rainbow, varden and arctic char need clean fresh water. On 

the post mine it is a major threat that will affect our traditional subsistence lifestyle. The elders, 

in the early 90's, and I have been a council administrator since the 1980's, 1981 through 2010 

as the administrator; I really enjoyed that job for that length of time. The elders stated that this 

large scale mine would have a devastating effect. It will affect our traditional, cultural lifestyle. I 

support the protection of BB now, before permitting. I encourage you to use your 404(c) 

authority to protect BB. Again thank you for coming. 
22

[00:05:31.12] 

Sarah McCarr 

Hi. My name is Sarah McCarr. I am a community associate for the Pebble Partnership. The 

Pebble Partnership views the watershed assessment as rushed and inadequate. Rushed 

because EPA has only spent 11 months on preparing the assessment. Rushed because the 

first public meetings on this 1,100 page document are being held only two short weeks after the 

draft of the report was released and rushed because EPA is allowing only 60-days when the 

people of Alaska are being asked to comment on the matter in the middle of summer. The 

current draft of the assessment is inadequate because EPA spent only 11 months studying and 

area of 20,000 square miles, while the Pebble Partnership has spent eight years studying 

approximately 1,500 square miles. Inadequate because the Pebble Partnership study is nearly 

30,000 pages for this acreage and the EPA study is about 1,100 pages. And inadequate 

because their environmental studies were gathered and analyzed by scientists on the ground 

doing field research and EPA by their own admission did not spend time analyzing our data. 

EPA should return in the fall when Alaskans have more time to review the material so that they 

can meaningfully comment on this assessment. We support the state of Alaska asked for a 

120-day extension on the public comment period. EPA should take the time to do this 

assessment correctly or stop their work. The current approach is insufficient, inadequate and 

rushed. Thank you. 

[00:07:55.03] 

Peter Christopher 

My name is Peter Christopher, Sr. I am the Vice President for our traditional council. On behalf 

of the New Stuyahok traditional council, I welcome you to New Stuyahok and I want to thank 

you for putting out the Bristol Bay assessment. I like the data and the surveys that you put in 

the BB assessment. I want to let you know that what we do under the Nushagak advisory is 

that we work with Dept of Fish and Game and determine or they give us the forecast for our BB 

runs. This year in 2012, we are expecting 32.3 million salmon returns. The two major 

watersheds, which are the Naknek and Kvichak, is going to receive as high as 15 million 

salmon. The harvest for that 15 million is going to be 9 million. For the Nushagak, which is this 

river, the forecast for our salmon is 6.76 of salmon. For the harvest for Nushagak it is 4.65 

million. Depending on the processing plants, they usually average 80 cents to a dollar or dollar 
23

fifty per pound of salmon that we get. They average 5-8 pounds each red salmon. For the 

kings, they use the major Nushagak. This river is the highest king salmon returns in BB. 25% 

of that, for example. 100,000 kings was forecasted of that goes up the Koktuli River where the 

mine is going to be developed at the headwaters. From the studies from the fish and game, and 

these are their official notes, like 25000 kings would come to the Koktuli. I have done summer 

research of the little fry’s that come to the mouth of the Koktuli and Stuyahok and Old Man 

River. The science group from Fairbanks out of the university were able to catch silver salmon, 

red salmon and king salmon fry’s. The little salmon that hatch up there. They stay up in those 

rivers for three seasons, three years. On the third year at the breakup, these young salmon go 

out with the ice. On this trip with the scientists it was successful and they applauded me for 

showing them where to do the samples and where the little fish are. Next, September, they are 

going to come back and they want to do the upper Nushagak River, the same thing that we did 

last year. This year’s return is forecast at 32.3 million and that is pretty good. But some years it 

is higher - 35 to 40 million that comes to BB. History, a little history of this Pebble Limited 

Partnership is just formed recently by the Anglo-American and Northern Dynasty. When they 

first discovered the Pebble - it was the Cominco Company that discovered it in the late 1970 

and 80. When they first came here to New Stuyahok, the people here said "We don't want the 

mine to be developed up there." Afterwards, Northern Dynasty came in after Cominco. They 

came around to the village and we said the same thing, that we didn't want that mine to be 

developed in the uplands of the Mulchatna and part of the Naknek Kvichak watershed. When 

Northern Dynasty come back with Anglo-American out of London based, they formed the 

Pebble Limited Partnership. We are the true people of Alaska who live here. We haven't 

moved. Bishop Gregory said we had the best resources on this river. You didn't need to go to 

the store to buy meat and fish. We have it here. That is what we want to protect and preserve. 

We have been fighting it for years. It is not new. Fighting the Pebble now. When we did the 

study with the DNR, one of the things I stated is that either EPA or DNR have to listen to the 

original people, not the foreign companies that come into our area and try to develop mining 

industry. We are concerned about the resources and the fishery and I've given you the forecast 

that we are expecting. It is not only that, as an elder said earlier, our Mulchatna caribou herd 

has moved away from the Pebble exploration because of the noise factor. It was already stated 

during the report that the cause of the herd moving away was because of the noise. They 

moved up to join the Kuskokwim caribou herd. About 25% of the caribous that used to live 

around the Mulchatna moved up to major upper Nushagak River. We would like to say that we 

are concerned. Even the village council, the corporation and the city of New Stuyahok has 
24

written a resolution to the legislature, the delegates and the congressmen Don Young before 

Ted Stevens also to him - a joint resolution opposing the Pebble Mine. We all signed it from the 

three community governments and entities. I have a lot more, because I have been on this 

subject for a lot of years from the start. Thank you again for coming to New Stuyahok and 

listening to our concerns, because we have been commercial fishing since 1967. I became a 

captain while I was going to high school in 10th grade because my old man couldn't fish 

anymore. I provided for my family. The only thing I take is 100-150 dollars from fishing. The 

rest went to my family. I didn't care as long as my sisters and my family had money for the 

winter. Now days, kids and myself know that you couldn't make it on 10-150 dollars, boarding 

down south. To let you know that I am a commercial fisherman, a hunter and trapper - both 

rivers - Mulchatna and Nushagak. This is BB watershed table. The resources that we have. 

[00:19:32.24] 

Peter Gumlickpuk 

Hello. Peter Gumlickpuk. I am the coordinator for the New Stuyahok Tribal Council. I'm glad 

you guys came and I hope you work with this 404(c) to make it go through. Why? Glance 

outside and see how beautiful it is. A renewable resource that goes every year and with this 

mining that is coming up, will you see that if you come back in ten years? Will you see the 

renewable resource out there, that girl? We have heard about water, about how precious it is. 

Anybody that doesn't drink water will die. Our plants will die. Our animals will die. Our little fish 

that depend on little bugs will die. They call it a hard name that I can't pronounce - they are 

microinvertebrates. When they die, our little fish will die. When it is developed you hear about 

hydrology. These microinvertebrates live there and our salmon depend on them. If the mining 

goes through, we will have nothing. Little bugs that I study all the time, when I sample and 

check the creek, will be no more. I fear for my little grandchildren that are growing up. You have 

seen a lot of testimony on different subjects, but for me, your pictures are so beautiful. Will you 

see this when you come back? It is God's country out there. When they EIS statements come 

from Pebble to state, the state will look at it and say, "Wow, looks good." They will give them 

that permit to do mining. With that 30,000 pages of the stuff that is given to the state they say 

hey, that looks good. Here we have been fighting to protect this watershed for a year and they 

say we are working too fast. We aren't working too fast, we are fighting to keep you to do the 

right assessment for our watershed and I hope you guys will continue to work on this. Thank 

you. 
25

[00:24:01.17] 

Moxie Andrew, Jr. 

Good afternoon. I'd like to thank EPA for doing a great job on protecting our environment. To 

me it's not too fast assessment, it's not rushed, to me, what I was worried about AngloAmerican, they had their own scientists going out and doing their own studies and frankly, I 

wouldn't trust them. I'm glad EPA came in with their own assessment. They may use other 

data elsewhere from scientists, I'm glad you did that. You are getting bad comments from the 

state and Pebble, but I commend you guys for doing a good job protecting our way of life. Our 

lifestyle it maybe subsistence, commercial or sport fisherman, but in the long term it's beneficial 

rather than the short term profit interest of a big company which profit won't come to Alaska it 

will go to foreign companies. That is not a very good thing. That is for their narrow interests. 

Anyway, I am Moxie Andrew Jr. I am Stuyahok Ltd, President and land manager. As Pres. of a 

native corporation who manage their lands for subsistence purposes. We continue to do it 

today and practice a subsistence way of life. Before, our ancestors, they were somewhat 

nomadic, they moved up the Mulchatna and here and there. One of the reasons they moved to 

this location was flooding up in the upper Mulchatna and Koktuli. There is a lot of precipitation 

and a lot of snow in winters. One of the reasons the elders picked this area is because it was 

rich environment. There are trees, willows, big game, small game. Salmon is the main source 

it’s why we have such a rich environment. Just like my farm land in the lower 48, they get their 

growth. Here the salmon play a big part of it. They spawn and they die and all of the small and 

big game and the land and the plants rely on them. It is like a fertilizer for this area, which is 

very important. One of the elders I spoke with in Koliganek before he passed away, said that 

salmon is very important, even the salmon fry. Before, they had starvation in this area a few 

years back, and what they survived on was salmon fry, because they had no big game like 

moose and the salmon fry to keep them from starving. On your assessment one thing I saw 

that was lacking is about whitefish. When there are low numbers in salmon, the people eat a lot 

of whitefish. It is sometimes called humpback. We get those during the spring. They are a 

migrating fish, maybe freshwater, there are little studies. From the lakes in the spring, they 

move into the rivers and the sloughs. We just got done with that. We kept whitefish if there 

were no salmon. Like in the sport fishing section, they said that 190,000 trout was caught, what 

we rely on is whitefish. They migrate just like the salmon, maybe at four or five years of age 

they spawn. They run up the rivers to the lakes. Tikchik Lakes and others, maybe Swan River. 

The do go up and spawn. The fall we catch those too. I catch maybe 200 whitefish to put away 

for the winter and I sundry them. Also, I barter and trade with people who live on the coast for 
26

seal oil and herring, clams. Some people say they are more sensitive than the salmon when 

they run up their streams to go spawning. This is by word of mouth. There is little studies on 

this, but I would like to see more of that in the assessment. People mention caribou, and my 

concern is migration in calving grounds of the caribou in this area. In this area there are five 

areas where they have caribou. They are S Peninsula, N Peninsula, Mulchatna, Nushagak and 

there is one more. There is also one more herd in the Naknek area. The calving grounds are in 

the upper Mulchatna and the small groups that calve in the Koktuli area, and they are not very 

far from the mine site. My concern is with calving, because in the 1980's the population was 

18,000. In the 1990's it went up to 200,000, and now in 2008, the last time I looked, they are 

down to 30,000. Some could be due to predators. In 1998 we see caribou limping around they 

had foot rot, in 1999 they had lung worm. In 2000, 6 out of 10 had bacteria in their lungs or lung 

worm and we have global warming where in the spring it warms up and thaws and freezes the 

ground where they had food, possibly the lichen. As Peter mentioned they have migrated up to 

the Kuskokwim and they are started to calve in the Kemuk mountain area. I don't want to put 

any more stress on them and be like the lower peninsula where they had to cut off hunting for 

caribou. I don't want to see that. I don't want to see more stress on the caribou. That is one of 

the main food sources that we have. I don't want to see that mine because there are dams, 

there are tailings deposits, and there may be a pipeline and a road and where they store their 

tailings. It is too much of a risk. In the assessment you say 1 in 1 million or 1 in 10,000, but 

accidents happen. I don't want to see that. Accidents do happen, whether it is human or 

Mother Nature who rules over everything. I don't want to see that. Especially the long term, in 

perpetuity if they leave the tailings and the dam, who is going to keep an eye on it? One spill 

and they devastate this whole area. I want to thank you and consider keeping this for our future 

generations. It's international now; we have a people who come from all over the world who 

come to this area. 

[00:33:08.01] 

Rachel Panamarioff 

First I would like to tell you how I became me. I am the granddaughter of Simon and Wonhola 

Sr.; I am the daughter of Evan and Dorothy Wonhola. My name is Rachel Panamarioff. I am a 

teacher. I will be with the school district in Barrow. For five years, I taught here at home. I'm 

still getting nervous, because what Wally showed earlier, that was my group. Last year I was 

able to teach as a Yup'ik teacher, and that was the most rewarding experience as high school 

students learned our traditions, values, language and culture. Most of all, they worked with our 
27

elders every day. Our highlight was when the students learned how to cut fish, split, smoke and 

can with the help of the elders and school staff. In our subsistence class, students learned how 

to mend nets, make Ulu's, make ice fishing poles, to even tasting frozen white fish. Every year, 

my family, my daughters, we get excited to move to fish camp. My whole life, ever since I was a 

baby, I go. There we are taught our family values through our tradition of cutting fish, and just 

being there at fish camp. My two older girls, one is 14, the other is 10, already know how to split 

fish. I do expect my 8 and 4 year old to do as well. Even though my family and I will leave for 

the school year, we will come back home for the summers more excited than ever to go to fish 

camp. Even though it was a week before moving, my daughters, they are always packed to go 

to Lewis Point. If we were to lose this way of life with the mine going through, we will not only 

lose our traditional way of living, but also our culture and values. Our people will be lost and 

without an identity. Recently through APIC? and BBNC to Texas as a teacher in a week to work 

with others on electrical and engineering opportunities so that the younger generation, instead 

of trying to go and work at Pebble, they will be able to look at other college opportunities. It 

doesn't mean that I'm for the Pebble personally, but as an educator, I have to teach both the 

pros and the cons. Thank you for coming. 

[00:37:20.16] 

Lucy A Weedman 

First of all I would like to welcome you to our community. My name is Lucy Weedman. I was 

just thinking about what Father Deacon presented and I get emotional when I think about the 

mine coming through and destroying our way of life. Anyways, I was born and raised here in 

BB. New Stuyahok is my home. I consider it to be my home town. It will be one of the villages 

that would be affected by the Pebble Mine if it does go through on the Nushagak River. I am 

giving testimony today as a subsistence user. I am an avid subsistence user of the Nushagak 

River, the fish that it provides and all the other animals that we subsist for here. Our lifestyle, 

especially today with our economy, everything is getting higher and more expensive. I know we 

pay for our food that we pay for triples all the time year after year. My family, as well as other 

families, depends on this watershed. I would also like to point out that Alaska is considered to 

be one of the last frontiers. I want to also say that BB is one of the richest and purest and most 

pristine of all of Alaska put together. Only because it doesn't have any existing mines right now, 

except for the exploration that is going on. Our watershed is pure and pristine and it holds all 

five species of the salmon we subsist for. It sustained my family as well as other families year 

round. I want to point out that not only does the salmon rely on the watershed, the other 
28

animals that we subsist for; moose, caribou and other wildlife we gather is in jeopardy of 

becoming extinct with the Pebble Mine coming through. We, the indigenous people of this river 

here will also be jeopardized. Our lifestyle, our way of life, and it won't be no more. I am a 

grandmother of five and hopefully more. When mining started being talked about a while back, 

my first thought was wow, there are going to be jobs available for our people here. But I was 

very uncomfortable with the word mining, so I did my own research. The more I learned about 

the mining world, I didn't like what I was reading and I didn't like what I found out about what 

mines could do to our land and especially our water. In mining, you use a lot of the water, lots 

and lots of water. Our waters are very sensitive, especially for the salmon we rely on. In doing 

the research on mining, that our watershed, in the whole world you won’t find a pristine pure 

watershed as we have here. It holds all five species of the salmon that we harvest and we hear 

about salmon farming. The farmed salmon that we hear about it doesn't even come close to the 

salmon that we have here. I'd also like to reflect today on Luki Akelkok's testimony. He said 

that the exploration that is going on right now and he mentioned that the other animals out 

there. My husband and family, we use the upper Mulchatna to hunt. I'd like to reconfirm that 

the animals and fish that used to be up there are already disappearing. Every bend of that river 

we used to come across some form of game up there. Now there is nothing. I'd like to thank 

EPA for doing the assessment and as a subsistence user in this region. I'd like to ask EPA to 

invoke everything you can to ensure that our watershed is protected to the maximum of what 

you can do for our region. Thank you again for listening. 

[00:43:58.19] 

Gregory Chunak (Elder – began in Yup'ik) 

(Then in English) I hardly catch any fish in my cabin up river. Maybe after big shake. The 

ground moved around in Anchorage a long time ago. After that the whole river used to be lots 

of fish. I used to see all kinds of fish. Rainbows, sockeyes, any kind of fish because I have the 

cabin, way up the Mulchatna below Luki's cabin. I used to see all kind of game. Any kind of 

animal. Now they are getting lesser and less. Hardly any, maybe come from after that big 

quake. It's really changed. Before that earthquake there used to be lots. Then we start 

watching before. If the mine goes through, everything is going to be gone. I used to work with 

Pebble looking for oil. I used to work down the coast looking for oil. They use water from the 

lakes. They do the same thing with these mines they will use even more. Pebble will use lots of 

water. It is no good. If it is bad. We have lots of little creeks up there. I have been travelling to 

my cabin. It is God's country up there. Really beautiful, but it is changing. The river is 
29

changing; even the little fishes are going away a little bit at a time. The last spring I go up I 

hardly see any caribou anymore. Every time I go to the cabin I use to see caribou in the river. 

Now I don't see them no more. Even moose, even Beaver, no more. 

New sound file _014 

Gust Choknak (Elder in Yup’ik) 

Translator: He is a tribal elder. He told the translator that where the Pebble Mine is located is 

where the caribou migrated. Now that isn't happening. The water will be contaminated. We all 

live on water, beaver, muskrats and many other animals rely on this fresh water. He noticed 

now days - he is a moose hunter too - moose liver getting holes. Some of these he is bringing 

up because it might be the exploration. In the past he didn't see this. In the many years the 

exploration has been going on, he wonders if it is affecting the moose from the Mulchatna area. 

We speak to preserve what we have for our children and future generations. Gold comes and 

goes and that is it. Salmon comes every year. If mining happens it will be like the gold and it 

will come and go forever. 

New sound file _015 

Okalena Andrew (talked with translator in Yup'ik) 

Translator: This is Okalena Andrew. She is one of the oldest elders in New Stuyahok. She 

thinks she is 92. She said that I don't want our land spoiled by machines. When I die I want our 

ways to continue. My husband was a reindeer herdsman. He roamed free all over this area, 

because he took care of reindeer. She understands why you are here and she says thank you 

EPA for coming to us. 

[00:01:53.20] 

Margie Hastings 

I am Margie Hastings and I am the Secretary of the New Stuyahok traditional council. I am in 

support of what EPA is doing. We finally have an organization that is taking a very difficult step 

looking at protecting our salmon, our water and our natural resources and our livelihood. We 

respect our land, water and people. We take only what we need. Mining company works hard 

to get what they want, even if it means destruction. We teach our children respect. Mining 

shows disrespect. That is all I have to say. 
30

[00:03:13.10] 

Thomas Weedman 

I'm Thomas Weedman. I am a resident of New Stuyahok. I am a subsistence user pretty much 

since the day I was born. This goes beyond my time. I can relate to my grandmother who 

passed on at least ten years ago. It was believed that she was 105 and I can relate to the 

lifestyle she had. I think she was a reindeer herder like some of these elders were saying. I can 

only imagine how did our elders live so long, so long that they live up to 80 to 100 years. It is 

very obvious that they were drinking pristine water and the lifestyle of food. Those fish and 

habitat were untouched by mankind. These were God given. They were so pristine that they 

can live that long. I want to live that long, but now days we keep hearing all these cancer 

coming in and I can relate that to cyanide that they want to use to take the gold out of the rocks. 

That is the easiest way to take the gold out. When we have this cyanide poisoning, it's going to 

come down our rivers and it will lower our lifespan. I went to a mining meeting in Bethel. It was 

said to me that cyanide as small as a grain of rice can kill fish. If we have the dumping of water 

that comes down to these rivers, how many more fish are we going to lose? The wild salmon 

and the fish we eat throughout the river. I can go out during the winter and even the frozen 

river, it provides me with water. The fish we eat and all the beaver and the muskrat that they 

have eaten a long time ago. For me in my perspective, Pebble Mine is a wasteland that is 

knocking at our doors. That wasteland is going to be taking out our way of life and living. I can 

just tell all the pros and cons, but for me Pebble Mine will take that living and lifestyle away from 

us. Thank you. 

New sound file_016 

Anna Gust 

My name is Anna Gust. I don't usually talk in front of a crowd, but I just want to thank you for 

coming to our village and we support you in whatever you are doing. The thing I want to say is 

that we should preserve what God has created and not try to destroy it, meaning the mine. We 

should preserve what God has created. If you sampled some strips earlier that was what my 

family brought, and I also wanted you to taste something that our family enjoys doing - the jerky. 

If you notice the pictures that you downloaded to your computer, we take pride in what we do. 
31

[00:01:14.12] 

Father Alexie Askoak 

I am Father Alexie. I am the Priest at the church here in New Stuyahok. What I want to share 

with you on January 19, we go down to the river to bless the water. For us it is very important 

that we maintain and keep our waters clean. Another part that I want to share is that every 

summer, we participate in subsistence gathering with fish. Even my two grandsons are excited 

to help us out when we are working on fish. I am very supportive of EPA and I'm glad that you 

are here. In the back of my head I'm always hoping that someone will come that carries 

something that will help. I asked someone how much weight you carry. He said that this could 

be it. I encourage all of you to help us out here and to keep our waters clean, so that every 

year, the church can continue to bless the waters here to make holy water for our people to use. 

New sound file _017 

Chief Moxie Andrew 

I have a celebration for Pentecost if you could read it. It says blessed art thou oh Christ our 

God who has revealed the fisherman as most wise, by sending down on them the Holy Spirit. 

Through them thou dids't draw them into your net oh, lover of men. Glory to thee. That is the 

blessing of the nets and blessing them for people to use. 

 

Separate sound file 

Ryan Brennan 

NOTE: Testimony was taken on Friday, June 8th, 2012. Mr. Brennan had to unload a barge that 

was at New Stuyahok, worked all night, and was unable to come back to the public meeting. 

EPA staff told him that he could submit his testimony at anytime they were still in the community. 

EPA staff did not have the digital recorder when Mr. Brennan approached them while they were 

walking around the town and so staff used a cell phone camera to record his testimony. 

Hi my name is Ryan Brennan and I am from Dillingham, Alaska and I have lived up in this 

community, New Stuyahok, for the past three years. We are opposed to the Pebble Mine 

simply because of the natural resources and wildlife that sustain us, help save us quite a bit of 

money that we can’t afford for food and what not, our way of life for thousands of years. With 

this pebble mine and where it is at, especially on the fault line, that ring of fire fault line, you 

know anything can happen. Anything man made that we have ever experienced has had 
32

problems. I was actually. .. In Dillingham couple years ago, Sir Mark Moody where CEO of 

Anglo American at the time, he said it will never break, never leak. One thing history has told us 

can be destroyed, anything man made can be destroyed. Mother Nature can destroy it. I had 

the guy stuttering actually, I said, “what are you guys going to do for us if the dam breaks and 

you contaminate all our wildlife - our wild salmon and fishery and everything?” He started 

stuttering, uh uh uh there will be legal issues put in place. I said, I realize you will have legal 

standbys for it, but that takes time, and if you contaminate our fish and that starts making us 

sick and what not, our children and everything. Those legal issues take time. We are going to 

need food now, who is going to take care of that? He could not provide me with an answer. So, 

yeah, it’s a bad enough scenario. From what I know it is not even American owned, it’s going to 

be owned by another country, just like our oil. We are not really going to profit nothing off of it. 

They are just going to strip our lands, and we won’t see next to nothing. As for the economy of 

it, they say will provide jobs and even then its pick and choose who you know type of thing. 

There is not much opportunity for us locals to get on there. They will hire one or two of us to 

pacify the laws and then it will be who they want in there and their company people. But Also 

you know with The wide variety of fishes we have here, reds, kings, dogs, chums, whatever, 

and trout, grayling, pike, white fish, trout, chums, and all the other animals the wolves foxes and 

bears and everything that sustain off that. This watershed feeds other nutrients into and other 

nutrients like berries too. If the Cyanide chemicals, sulfuric acid, whatever they use to strip all 

that, gets into our environment it’s going to kill everything off. So, It’s not going to be very 

economically positive for us, it’s going to be Environmentally damaging in severe ways, if there 

is a natural disaster, this is the last and largest fishery that’s left that’s not contaminated and 

other kinds of things. So, I am not looking forward to the Pebble Mine, at all. Yeah, it’s just not 

good. 

********* 

Note: This is not a certified transcript. This record of oral comments was transcribed by Judy 

Smith, EPA Community Involvement Coordinator from audio recordings taken at the EPA public 

meeting held in New Stuyahok, Alaska beginning at 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 7, 2012. Every 

effort was made to transcribe the testimony accurately, but there may be errors or omissions 

because of background noise during the meeting or the sound quality of the recording.