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 5 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency -- Region 10

 6 Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment

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 8 Public Hearing 

 June 5, 2012

 9 11:30 a.m.

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 11 Held at:

 Middle School Gym

 12 Dillingham, Alaska

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 1 MR. TILDON: For the record, my name is Thomas

 2 Tildon; I'm the Tribal Chief for the Curyung Tribe, and I

 3 want to thank you for taking the -- doing this assessment,

 4 first of all. I think that the assessment is very good.

 5 And is on target, it's timely, and it's -- and I'm glad

 6 that you're out here to listen to the folks and our

 7 comments. I think that it's weak in some areas, and I'd

 8 like to discuss some of the weak points of the assessment.

 9 I believe that it's weak in regards to when

 10 discusses the seismic activity in that particular area. I

 11 hope that you and -- and the scientific review panel are

 12 able to go back and take a look at strength a lot more. I

 13 think it's also weak in regards to the Native people that

 14 leave in the region that depend on fishery. I cannot say

 15 that our society is not like any other society, that we've

 16 lived here for anywhere from fifteen to 150 generations,

 17 depending on what anthropologist you talk to. And I

 18 believe that we're going to live here continued for a lot

 19 longer.

 20 And I hope that you put a lot of emphasis on our

 21 independence of salmon. And not only to our economy but

 22 to our culture. I'd also like to talk about another issue

 23 that I believe that we need to put a little more emphasis

 24 on, and that is climate change. Climate change is

 25 happening; we that live here in Bristol Bay see it

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 1 happening. We see the weather change and we hope that you

 2 would take a little more look at that. And we hope that

 3 you invoke 404(c) after all of this assessment and peer

 4 review is done. And we firmly believe that President

 5 Obama was right when he said that "Bristol Bay is a

 6 natural treasure," and we want to keep it that way. Thank

 7 you.

 8 MR. HEYANO: Thank you. My name is Robert

 9 Heyano, and as their president I'm representing Native

 10 Tribe of Yukon. We want to first thank you for taking on

 11 the task of Briston Bay Watershed Assessment. Our members

 12 of fishing and salmon resources in the waters, assists

 13 food as our wildlife resources present the watershed. Our

 14 members are also very dependant on commercial salmon

 15 fishery. For many of our members, it is the soul source

 16 of cash income for any given year. We find the draft

 17 assessment to be an acceptable document, therefore have no

 18 recommended changes at this time.

 19 We appreciate you taking into consideration our

 20 comments on those establishing the existing time line and

 21 you maintain them. We want to convey to you that it is

 22 our belief that you people and your agency are the only

 23 agency that say large scale mining, such as Pebble, from

 24 happening within the region. We want to thank you for

 25 your time and opportunity for allowing us to provide

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 1 comments to the draft assessment. Thank you.

 2 MR. MAINES: Good morning. Hello, welcome to

 3 Dillingham. My name is Billy Maines, M-a-i-n-e-s for the

 4 record. I am a council chief for Curyng Tribal Council.

 5 First of all, thank you for coming. Thank you for being

 6 here to hear my comments. Thank you for hearing my cry

 7 for help, my plea for help. And thank you for taking the

 8 initial steps to understand my life, my home. Most

 9 importantly, thank you for Briston Bay Watershed

 10 Assessment.

 11 Your assessment, along with the Pebble

 12 Partnership baseline data puts into writing what I've been

 13 told and what I pass on. But the Bristol Bay watershed is

 14 alive, vibrant, sensitive, clean pristine ecosystem. It's

 15 water rich. It provides for everything on everyone who

 16 depends on that system. It's a gift from God, it's Mother

 17 Nature's presence. It's father times endowment to people

 18 of Bristol Bay. It always has been, always will be; if

 19 left alone.

 20 The true definition of the people who live here

 21 and who come to visit here lives within the Bristol Bay

 22 watershed. As fas as the assessment goes, it is kind of

 23 weak as far as what the eco-system really is involved

 24 with. It's not only the head waters from the -- and swan

 25 and rear, but it's also at the estuary of Bristol Bay into

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 1 the Bering Sea. It's all the nutrients that come from our

 2 watershed that feed and breath the crap.

 3 MR. STEVENS: Thank you. First, I should say I'm

 4 not here representing either the Senate or my district,

 5 actually just to speak for myself. I know there's people

 6 in the Senate and my district that disagree with me. This

 7 is such an enormously important issue. I don't have the

 8 answers; I'm here to listen and to learn from you, but I'm

 9 concerned about the opposing issues here.

 10 First, as a state, we have a responsibility to

 11 all of our natural resources, to all of the people. Our

 12 Constitution says we will use our natural resources for a

 13 maximum benefit of all of the people of Alaska. Mining

 14 has a long history, certainly a lot of jobs and a lot of

 15 money. But my concern, frankly, is commercial fisheries,

 16 sports fisheries, and it's sufficient lifestyle.

 17 Concerned that any mining in Bristol Bay has to be very,

 18 very carefully securitized, we have to have high

 19 environmental standards, we have to protect the water

 20 quality and the fish. These are such big issues.

 21 This is a big mine, this is bigger than anything

 22 we've seen in Alaska. There maybe a risk; there maybe a

 23 risk to water, to fish. My concern is the dam; the

 24 earthquakes; the possibility of the waste rocks; the fact

 25 that we contain this material forever, that's a long, long

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 1 time. I appreciate EPA's concern and work. I appreciate

 2 your meeting here in Bristol Bay, appearing for the folks

 3 who are most concerned. We need science and we need

 4 science based information, how best to protect our

 5 watershed, how best to protect this world class fishery.

 6 So here we are in one of the most exciting times

 7 of the year with fishing season starting, with thousands

 8 and thousands of fishing jobs on the line with hundreds of

 9 millions of dollars on the line. I don't know the answer,

 10 but it was the right thing to do for EPA to do this

 11 independent assessment. I'd like to see the -- I should

 12 -- a similar assessment. The more science that we have,

 13 the better this is, the right thing to do at the right

 14 time and the right place. Thank you.

 15 MR. EDGMON: Thank you very much. My name is

 16 Byrce Edgmon. I represent the greater part of Bristol Bay

 17 watershed Alaska legislator. I want to come before you

 18 today to make a couple general statements of the strong

 19 support of the draft assessment. First, I'd like to

 20 comment to how the report looks at the watershed, at least

 21 the larger part of the watershed. As a holistic matter it

 22 looks at its entirely sort of a manner that takes in both

 23 the risks as well as the values of the fisheries, and it

 24 does so from the -- a distance in a way that a very frank

 25 permitting process couldn't under take.

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 1 A couple years ago we tried in the Alaska

 2 Legislator to fund such a study of the natural academy of

 3 sciences, unfortunately we came up short in getting the

 4 funding; we came up short in getting political support to

 5 do something like that. So I strongly support the study.

 6 And I think it sets out, again, in a macro -- a micro

 7 matter. When looking at the fishery I -- I would also say

 8 that in response to the comments that -- that talked --

 9 that you've heard about this rushed, this is a preemptive

 10 strike against the development of Alaska. But this study

 11 processes the Stat's right issue.

 12 I just strongly -- I think whenever there's a

 13 resource development project that needed this kind of

 14 extra scrutiny, that needed this to -- again, a broader

 15 look at all the resources and all the significant

 16 interests, that it could be out there with large scale

 17 development. We are not just talking one project, we're

 18 talking potentially many projects. I would say that this

 19 is the project that would offset.

 20 Lastly, in terms of any shortcomings for the

 21 study, and I know it's outside the scope of the agency,

 22 but study legislature we were also going to look at the

 23 social economic aspects of bringing in several hundred, if

 24 not thousands, of large work force into the region, what

 25 those affects could be. So I'll close by saying, I thank

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 1 you for all the work you're doing; and I strongly support

 2 your project.

 3 MS. FERGUSON: Thank you. I'm a direct

 4 descendant of the fish people, the salmon people in the

 5 Bristol Bay area. And my name is Anna May Ferguson. My

 6 parents are late David Gesup, and mom is Sue Gesup. I was

 7 born and raised at Togiak. When I think of time in the --

 8 I think of Alaska people that lived for every season. My

 9 people do know how to live all the land and passed it down

 10 through generations.

 11 When I'm here people -- and people are down from

 12 the Bristol Bay Region are here, they are for or against.

 13 For me, I am against Pebble Mine. I cannot fathom

 14 thinking about open pit mine. Money is good for jobs, but

 15 the livelihood of your commercial fishermen is in

 16 jeopardy. Our food are in jeopardy, our future is in

 17 jeopardy. What my mind and heart can fathom is the of

 18 future my people.

 19 And the way I introduce myself, I learned that

 20 being a direct descendant of Bristol Bay Region. We are

 21 of the fish people. We are the salmon people. We go to

 22 other places and people introduce themselves as they are

 23 from here -- in clan is their descendants of this and we

 24 have in the Bristol Bay Region, lived -- there are

 25 thousands of years. And when I say jobs are good, jobs

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 1 are good, yes; but we have lived in this land either you

 2 know from my ancestors without jobs and the main job that

 3 we have existence. Thank you.

 4 MR. KRITZ: Thank you for the opportunity to

 5 listen to us. Since it's very important my -- my first

 6 thought was talking about the water assessment is that our

 7 -- our people, our grandparents have told us how important

 8 water has always been for us. And then western culture

 9 came around and the doctor started telling us how

 10 important water is to our lives. And I would like to --

 11 my name is Moses Kritz, and thank you for being here.

 12 I was born and raised in Togiak, and I'm 62 years

 13 old. I wish I could express myself enough to convince you

 14 of the lifestyle we have had since I can remember. When I

 15 came to -- I remember and thought we were the only people

 16 on the planet and know that we were not isolated and

 17 didn't know that we were poor because we had all the

 18 resources that we had -- had from the land, the sea, and

 19 the waters around us that we need to sustain our way of

 20 life.

 21 And with our culture we did not know that we were

 22 heathens, because we have always been. We are still who

 23 we are and will be -- and will be who we are for centuries

 24 to come, because our children and grandchildren are still

 25 carrying on what we eat, how we hunt, gather, all the

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 1 resources that are there that will sustain us for more

 2 centuries to come.

 3 MR. NELSON: Thank you. Thank you Rick, and

 4 thank you for bringing EPA to Bristol Bay. My name is

 5 Russell Nelson, and I'm the director Bristol Bay Native

 6 Corporation. I have six years on the Alaska State Board.

 7 I come from a very large family that really depends on

 8 fishing here in Bristol Bay. We put up a lot of king

 9 salmon that we use, it's our that -- we make salmon strips

 10 out of and Toctuee [phonetic] is one of the rivers that is

 11 a major spawner of the king salmon, and people wait for

 12 the kings and get them as they come in; and sometimes we

 13 miss them, sometimes we don't fill our smokehouse as well

 14 as we -- for the winter because of lack of king salmon at

 15 certain times. So if any -- that stock of king salmon is

 16 to us.

 17 The time line that you have comments is

 18 absolutely sufficient. People out to just -- want to

 19 comments now shouldn't be waiting, delaying the project.

 20 The people that I see are asking you to delay that are

 21 people that are paid hands to try to derail the whole

 22 process to begin with. So please, your assessment -- your

 23 comment period is absolutely sufficient. Let's continue

 24 down this road. We need to get this assessment completed

 25 and then we need to go on to make sure that the 404(c) can

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 1 be taken as the next step to take a look at really

 2 important things that have to happen with this -- to

 3 protect -- first you can't fill up tailings if fill

 4 tailings the fish won't be there.

 5 Second, you can't have the fixing zones like the

 6 State of Alaska has been allowing. And, you know, Rick

 7 came he said it's okay to have mixing. We don't need

 8 mixing zones. And the final thing is, we can't take care

 9 of this stuff. The mining companies will be gone, and we

 10 need to make that the toxics never come down these rivers.

 11 Thank you.

 12 MR. WASSILY, SR.: (Undiscernible speaker.)

 13 MR. NICHOLAI: (Speaking Native tongue.) I want

 14 to try to summarize that very quickly. Robert Nicholai,

 15 Togiak. And his opening comments was that -- that's what

 16 his elders and those who lived before him has always

 17 mentioned that -- that food -- that the food comes from

 18 the land and sea. And he compares to a food stamp

 19 program. And that he's been hearing about the Pebble and

 20 the adverse impact may have on the fish and game in the

 21 region if that is -- if that is allowed to many people

 22 within his village said that they would not have what

 23 they've had in the past from the land and sea.

 24 And he urges that we need to protect what we have

 25 lived on. Many of them don't have any jobs; but hunting

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 1 and fishing is -- is just like a job to many folks who

 2 live in the village because from continued doing that with

 3 the salmon, they can be assured that they will have

 4 something to eat. Thank you.

 5 MR. NUNALOOK, SR.: (Speaking Native Tongue.)

 6 That was Dan Nunalook Sr., an elder in Togiak, Alaska.

 7 And what he knows many people may not know is, he's an

 8 elder. He realized there's been many problems our people

 9 have faced through the years, and he started realizing

 10 what was happening from 1930 on. There was not a fish

 11 back then. And he started commercial fishing in 1936; he

 12 fished until 2008.

 13 The concern that he's concern has been fish in

 14 Bristol Bay and then the major area that he is concerned

 15 about is the habitant and the very gone -- for the smote

 16 and fish that have already. He says that -- that that has

 17 been -- already been affected. And I guess he -- his

 18 concern is that with not -- they'll been more effect on

 19 the habitant; and he said he had much more to say, he

 20 realizes that time is short. And if given time sometime,

 21 he has lots of stories to tell you. He has a notebook; he

 22 writes some in English and some in Native. So if you need

 23 some reference you can go see him and he'll show his

 24 notes. Thank you.

 25 MR. FORSLING: Good afternoon, my name is

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 1 Johnthan Forsling. I'm the chairman for the Council of

 2 Togiak and Sudan, as well as the chair committee on Fish &

 3 Game advisor committee. In the six years that I've lived

 4 in -- the past six-years that I lived in Togiak, I've

 5 taken part in a lot of -- a lot of Fish & Game -- I've

 6 seen the impacts of the current tributaries when it's

 7 managed. And tradition started four years ago. It's

 8 partnership between tribe and up the river seafood for

 9 corporation.

 10 Feature of this bay depends on local ownership.

 11 The processing of salmon, and it doesn't -- the if our

 12 mine was to go through, it will decimate our culture and

 13 decimate our people. There's 229 -- there's 23 Bristol

 14 Bay, and if a mine was to go through, it will effect --

 15 decimate our culture and our peeps. And the future -- the

 16 future for Bristol Bay is dependant on our salmon and our

 17 local ownership in the processing. And I'd like to thank

 18 you guys acting here, listen to what we have to say, and

 19 taking the time to look at this project.

 20 MR. BROWN: Thank you for the opportunity. I'm

 21 Mel Brown. I represent Bristol Bay Native Corporation as

 22 a director. Been a commercial fishermen for the last

 23 50 years, and I plan to go as long as I possibly could.

 24 And the Lord has been good to me in terms of health,

 25 because of fresh fish that we are dependant on for years.

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 1 My family is a five generations at one time. We've taught

 2 our children and our grandchildren to be fishermen. And

 3 we've depended on the food for all of those years. And we

 4 plan, as our grandchildren are taught, to honor and

 5 respect the fish that we depend on so much here in Bristol

 6 Bay. It's the richest and the largest fishery in the

 7 whole world, and we want to keep it that way.

 8 One of the things that I'm appreciative of today

 9 is the EPA coming in. You are standing up for us, and we

 10 are with you; we'll back you up in any way that we could.

 11 And we want you to be here, and we thank you that you've

 12 planned a risk assessment on this mine that is going to be

 13 right in the center of the salmon habitat where the salmon

 14 are reared. The healthiest food is where the salmon knows

 15 to go, to lay their eggs, and spawn so future generations

 16 can continue to have this food, not only commercially, but

 17 culturally, but for ongoing future generations. It's gone

 18 this way for year after year.

 19 And I thank you that you're already planning the

 20 risk assessment. It has to be an independent study that

 21 needs to be made. You need to give it more time. By what

 22 you've already done -- thank you so much for listening to

 23 us.

 24 MR. ANDERSON: Thank you very much. My name is

 25 Norman Anderson, I'm the youngest son of Ed and Jay

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 1 Anderson. My testimony is an objection to the proposed

 2 public project. The Alaska people have belief in several

 3 generations scenario as a reaction to all generations

 4 taking care of the land and share today what they enjoyed

 5 then. We must take care -- will have some generations

 6 from now.

 7 Over the years I have seen mineral corporation

 8 abuse their right to explore and destroy our land, they

 9 elate to activities, serial killers who move from one

 10 location to another who kill and maim our precious planet.

 11 Bristol Bay we have protected for years. And it's been --

 12 exploration to exist to make Bristol Bay a crime scene.

 13 If we do not take a stand as caretakers of the resources.

 14 There's a former spokeperson back several years ago on the

 15 proposed public project, you did not only focus on the

 16 Pebble project, as Pebble will become the hole in the

 17 bagel should and become the reality. All the way

 18 surrounding it is now being stated for potential -- for

 19 potential development of other companies will be approved

 20 as well.

 21 And since the first day of Alaska came to claim

 22 Bristol Bay as their home, there were -- there was

 23 earthquakes, volcanos, epidemics. However, since the

 24 mineral corporation will be allowed to create a future for

 25 themselves in Bristol Bay, we people are from a way of

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 1 life. We thank the EPA for coming here, and do everything

 2 we can to take care of this big village we call earth.

 3 Thank you very much.

 4 MS. ANDERSON: I'm not a tribal elder, but circle

 5 an elder; so I'm a young elder. My name is Flossie

 6 Anderson; I'm representing myself. Because the mine would

 7 have the potential of impact on the fishery and all

 8 animals and consequently destroy a 4,000-year-old culture

 9 and people, I ask the department of interior advisor,

 10 protect the lives of our Native people and our resources

 11 and help us stop the possibility of destruction of our

 12 people and resources. The federal government has a duty

 13 to do so since the government has a Native trust

 14 responsibility to us. Thank you.

 15 MR. OLSEN: My name is Hjalmar Olsen. I was born

 16 and raised here in Dillingham. I'm a BBNC board member,

 17 chairman of the board for 28 years until Joe took my place

 18 a couple years ago. Welcome to Dillingham, and thank you

 19 for very much for doing too, EPA assessment. I think it's

 20 timely, and I think you're probably one of the few

 21 agencies, if not, the only agency that listened to the

 22 tribes and the people here in Bristol Bay.

 23 My biggest concern is the future of the fishery.

 24 We need clear water here. You could start any place in

 25 Bristol Bay from Togiak to Dillingham, up here we have all

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 1 the lakes. I think state parks, which one of our greater

 2 spawning areas for salmon, what about the land animals,

 3 the seals, the beluga and the birds, they need clean water

 4 too. So I think my biggest concern is the future of the

 5 fishery. If that mine is developed up there, I think it's

 6 going to be -- it's going to be terrible on the water.

 7 And I want to publicly say, I don't think there's a safe

 8 mine in the world, the field will be leaking and we'll

 9 have a disaster here. And what -- what is -- why do we --

 10 Bristol Bay is because we got salmon here.

 11 We assist a lot, but the salmon and the

 12 commercial fishery provides us with the cash, cash that we

 13 need for other products, ammunition, flour, and all the

 14 other things we need for -- to -- to exist out here. So I

 15 want to thank you again for doing this assessment. I

 16 think I looked it over and it's -- you've done a pretty

 17 good summary of it. So thank you very much.

 18 MS. KRITZ: Hi, my name Anecia Kritz; and I'm

 19 from the beautiful village of Togiak. Thank you very much

 20 for coming here today to listen to us. I have practiced

 21 our subsistence way my entire life, and I'm proud to say I

 22 teach my grandchildren and my children our traditional

 23 subsistence way of life. Passing on our traditional ways

 24 can help if we let pollution destroy our lands and water.

 25 I don't want any big mines like Pebble to contaminate my

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 1 subsistence food. Our culture cannot survive if we don't

 2 take care of our lands. Our ancestors passed on this

 3 beautiful place to us. And we must do everything we can

 4 to protect it for our grandchildren and children.

 5 Thank you for doing the Bristol Bay Watershed

 6 Assessment. We know our Bristol Bay is priceless and now

 7 you have the scientific proof. Please do what is right

 8 and take action now to protect our homeland. And a lot of

 9 us that live our subsistence foods, we don't go to the

 10 store every time we going to eat. We live off our land.

 11 And just an information, that my family been called Pebble

 12 people. So for those informations to let the people that

 13 think that way, I'm probably more hundred percent against

 14 Pebble than you are. Thank you.

 15 MR. NELSON: Good morning. As an independent

 16 qualified in the animal system, I find the assessment

 17 sufficient for public knowledge, but a work-in-progress

 18 within a scientific ability allow me therefore to set way

 19 into my testimony I title "food security." As a cannery

 20 worker of eight seasons, an active worker in environmental

 21 science forces will change as a master student environment

 22 and natural resource management.

 23 I speak in defense of great vast and man

 24 coexistence of means to survive. To hunt of great is --

 25 dual citizen of the United States of America and the

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 1 islands. I have the opportunity to live and work

 2 Southwest Alaska at the. Seeing how the hunter gatherers

 3 of the cold far north, the disbelief of this hunter

 4 gathers who live around the equator. Being one of

 5 thousands of cannery workers following the life of salmon,

 6 I come back season after season to earn a living so others

 7 can bounty from the great industry of Bristol Bay has

 8 brought the life of hunter gatherers to commercial lives

 9 -- really want -- catch salmon to homes, schools, and

 10 tables around the globes, this substance of life.

 11 In a global level, the fight for Bristol Bay to

 12 fight great -- and verses air, water, and food for

 13 generations to come, of the other as the last remaining

 14 salmon cans are frozen the subsistence life of hunting and

 15 tracking come under weight to prepare for the long cold

 16 days of winter. This is survival in Southwest Alaska do

 17 not have the alternative of farming every live stock as a

 18 means to survive and here lies the difference.

 19 For my last remaining seconds, allow me to make a

 20 common private around the globe as point from a tribal

 21 lass. Fathers taught us to love the land, land for our

 22 bodies, land provides homes, land provides crops for women

 23 and children, land provides rivers for our fish and

 24 mountains for our hunting skills. We love this land, we

 25 respect this land, we protect this land. People --

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 1 culture land -- these are our treasures.

 2 JEFF SKRADE: Good morning, folks. My name is

 3 Jeff Skrade; I'm representing myself here today. And I'm

 4 really delighted you came out to hear our testimony. I'm

 5 currently employed by Peter Pan Seafoods here in

 6 Dillingham. My title is fleet manager; I've been with

 7 them for 14 years, prior to that I worked for the State of

 8 Alaska Department of Fish & Game and for the two

 9 commercial fisheries for 21 years. This is my 41st year

 10 working for Bristol Bay and the State of Alaska mostly in

 11 Bristol Bay.

 12 And we have truly a natural treasure here, folks.

 13 Please keep in mind this is the last wild stocks wild

 14 salmon fishery here on the planet, the very last one.

 15 When Alaska became a state years ago, the fisheries in

 16 this area were depleted. Evidence suggests that this was

 17 due to a number of factors, including high seas,

 18 overfishing, and a very unresponsive system of manager.

 19 That is has all been changed. You've heard about

 20 fisheries the world over that have failed for various

 21 reasons, that's not the case here in Bristol Bay. We're

 22 very blessed, and we have experienced record level of

 23 production.

 24 Since 2004 this catch database goes back to 1883

 25 in a handout that I passed out to earlier for you to look

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 1 at. Under Alaska Constitution, Alaska Procedures Act,

 2 some serious of guidelines that -- that involve the public

 3 in the process of management and developing the management

 4 plan and the regulations of government fishery. The

 5 participants with the most best interest are involved in

 6 this process and our supportive positive management of

 7 this common property resource.

 8 I've given you written comments and -- and I

 9 didn't even finish the first page let alone the second.

 10 Best wishes for coming out, and thank you for our chance

 11 to testify.

 12 MR. EGDORF: Good afternoon. Thank you for being

 13 here, thank you for this assessment. It's an epic piece

 14 of work. My name is David Egdorf. I live at Linden Lake,

 15 which is the first lake above the wood. I've been here

 16 35 years. And I'm a sport fishing camp monitor. My vote

 17 is no mine. I've flown thousands of hours in the area;

 18 and I learned a lot about the area, it cannot take the

 19 impact of a huge mine operation. If Pebble Mine is

 20 approved, the whole area becomes available, hundreds of

 21 square miles. And this area can't support that.

 22 Subsistence lifestyle here is the important

 23 thing, culture needs to be considered immensely. I don't

 24 know what else to say, but we just don't need a mine here.

 25 These people can't be subjected to the possibilities of

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 1 the loss of their culture, their home, their heritage. I

 2 think that about covers it for me. But thank you for

 3 being here. And give this country your best shot. It's

 4 about the fish.

 5 MR. OLSEN, SR.: Good afternoon. I'd like to

 6 thank you for coming to Dillingham today, I appreciate it.

 7 My name is Tom Olsen, Sr.; this is my boy, Junior. I grew

 8 up on fish, eating fish, and I'm a commercial fishermen my

 9 whole life. My boy is right behind me, he did the same.

 10 He'd ask at dinner, "What's for dinner, dad?" I'd say,

 11 "Fish," and he'd say, "Oh, yum, I can't wait to eat fish,

 12 dad." Fish is good. Fish cut the fat.

 13 Everyone talks about how to live a long life, my

 14 dad always told me, the fat from the oil in the fish make

 15 you live longer. And I'm here today as a commercial

 16 fishermen about the Pebble Mine, it'll hurt our land,

 17 it'll hurt our people, and it'll hurt many generations to

 18 come. And thank you for coming, and have a good summer.

 19 MS. GESTRING: Thank you for coming today to do

 20 this assessment. It clearly highlights the severe and

 21 lasting consequences to wild salmon habitat if mining

 22 Pebble deposit. The mine footprint alone would respect

 23 the direct loss of an -- to 87 streams, 87 miles of

 24 streams. But I'm particularly struck by the livelihood

 25 that the mine will become severe and lasting source of

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 1 drainage. And the rivers and streams below the mine.

 2 The assessment estimates the waste drive piles

 3 alone could generate up to 2.8 million gallons of

 4 contaminated sewage in a year, if it isn't already

 5 contaminated. And as for the copper concentration in the

 6 sea beds, it could be so high the entire flow of the

 7 Eppers creek [phonetic] couldn't provide enough of a

 8 solution to water flow. So failure to contain these, the

 9 entire creek, the potentially a large area of the lake to

 10 become toxic to fish.

 11 According to the assessment, there are no

 12 examples of successful long term collection and treatment

 13 systems for the mine. There is talk about storing a waste

 14 truck underwater and tailing for the pit after the mine is

 15 closed, but it should be clear that storing mine

 16 underwater slow -- not stop acid generation and evidence

 17 of hundreds of operating mines around the world. Lots of

 18 industry document indicate that all impoundment leak to

 19 some extent over time.

 20 So the bottom line seems very clear, managing for

 21 the wild sustainable productive fishery or the visual

 22 likelihood of managing for water pollution and perpetuity

 23 and assessment makes a very compelling scientific case for

 24 404(c). Thank you.

 25 MR. BRAUD: Good afternoon, my name is Dylan

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 1 Braud. I'm a father of two young boys, a lifetime Alaska

 2 commercial fishermen. I have a law degree of science and

 3 environmental studies. As we say in the fishing industry,

 4 if it can go wrong, it will. Thank you for taking a look

 5 at this recent watershed assessment; thank you for taking

 6 a hard look at this issue.

 7 There's one rule that I think is relevant to this

 8 whole issue and it's overlooked, it is the temperable

 9 important to this issue. Namely, how this decision

 10 impacts future generations. This should be a standard by

 11 which all decisions should be based in this watershed.

 12 The comment pointed at the commercial fishing season based

 13 on the assessment and the fewer marks inquiry. First 10

 14 consider that the margin of error in the testing of the

 15 sulfite, and if you apply that margin of error couple

 16 percent to 10 billion tons of waste, that's a significant

 17 margin of contamination of the watershed compliance.

 18 Next, how will the cause aside mine long term?

 19 How will this withstand seismic activity? Is seismic in

 20 the watershed assessment. What's the next 25-year and

 21 70-year mine under state the probably size of skill

 22 development in Bristol Bay mining district. There are

 23 several continuous mines next to Pebble Mine, that's a

 24 seven-year mine severely understates the probability

 25 development and probable not to be produced over the long

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 1 term, that's the significance.

 2 The impact will be significant and provide what

 3 we -- currently is your watershed assessment. The

 4 partnership of the literature indicates Pebble side is

 5 highly likely more over levels of acid mine drainage will

 6 likely increase over the long term. Based on review of

 7 scientific, the number of salmon streams will greatly be

 8 impacted by the road. And I understated if you didn't

 9 associate blasting the open pit and completion of the work

 10 entail will probably have contaminated enter the

 11 watershed. They will be mobilized an cycled through the

 12 ecosystem. I wrote a paper to summarize, 14 inches, I'll

 13 leave it on your desk.

 14 MR. WILSON: For the record, my name is Kenneth

 15 Wilson. I'm here to represent the commercial fishermen of

 16 Dillingham. The salmon forecast for the 2012 season is

 17 32.3 million, plus or minus. Why would anybody want to

 18 threaten there food -- our food source? We live in a

 19 known ring of fire of earthquakes. This past winter we

 20 had an earthquake in Anchorage, north of Anchorage and

 21 Kenai. Just this past winter that's only one fire, and

 22 that's just the last -- last eight months.

 23 The fire in the mine could travel for miles, with

 24 strong winds, the underwater we have at Pebble Mine will

 25 be the first to cause pollution. The salmon wouldn't have

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 1 a chance. I'm asking you to use common sense, this mine

 2 might produce in 50 years. The renewable resource with

 3 the forecast rain from 23.18 million to 41.42 million for

 4 the past 10 years, and that's only for the past 10 years.

 5 I would like to say thank you for coming to Bristol Bay.

 6 And we were just only a few weeks away from a run here in

 7 Bristol Bay. The run is at the south end and will be here

 8 in about two weeks.

 9 MR. FRISS-MIKKELSEN: Thank you for this

 10 opportunity, and I appreciate your taking a look at this

 11 issue. It is -- I've been a commercial fishermen all my

 12 life. I've fished in every ocean in this world. And I

 13 have never -- when I came to Bristol Bay, I was just

 14 completely awed by the amount of wildlife. The strength

 15 of this place is just amazing. And the sensitivity of

 16 this place is just so unique. How these fish find their

 17 way back will start altering the composition of the water

 18 and the elements in this water they use to navigate,

 19 they'll be lost. And all these people will be lost. The

 20 culture will be lost.

 21 The -- the decision that we have to make now is

 22 not just for subsistence and Native culture and the

 23 commercial fishermen and hunters and the sport fishermen,

 24 everyone else is involved up here, it is an issue -- it

 25 speaks to the values that we want to leave to our

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 1 children. And -- and the country and the world. What are

 2 we going to leave to this people, what will they inherit?

 3 This place is so special that, to me, mining Bristol Bay

 4 is pure and simple, a risk we cannot take. And that's --

 5 that's all I know. Thank you very much.

 6 MS. WYSOCKI: Hi, I'm Anie Wysocki. I'm

 7 representing my family and my Koliganek Triable Council.

 8 First, on the area of subsistence to my family and village

 9 and this area on this plants. The -- rights, nutures we

 10 need for generations; we care for our water, and it

 11 provides for us. My family has been commercial fishermen

 12 fourth generation and grandparents fifth generation. And

 13 I'd like to continue this as part of who we are.

 14 Third area, for my village corporation and tribal

 15 council, I mean, I've always encouraged people to sell

 16 their lands near our village mines drilling. This mines

 17 15 miles north west -- west of near Keel Mountain. We

 18 oppose this mine, but it's happening; these mines feel

 19 like giants, makes me feel so small. And I really

 20 appreciate you coming here and doing our assessment. I'd

 21 like to say that my people have been -- are natural

 22 scientists. We always watch the animals, we watch the

 23 land, we watch how the fish do stuff; and every time when

 24 we came back and we notice anything, talk amongst

 25 ourselves and say, "This is happening," or we'll say,

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 1 "Looks at the beaver," and say, "Oh, they're doing this,"

 2 and that's a sign that -- that -- that will help us

 3 determine what kind of winter we're going to have, what is

 4 coming in; and all that stuff we look at these things like

 5 water and water travels. It doesn't stay just in one

 6 place because it's traveling down from river and ocean and

 7 right back, and it's just like a cycle that continues.

 8 Thank you for listening to us.

 9 MR. ANDREW: Thank you. Welcome to salmon

 10 country. I'm Peter Andrew, BBNC board member. These

 11 federal waters that we are looking at, that rear so many

 12 salmon need protection. EPA's charter reason for being

 13 are for places like this. We need -- we need you and

 14 thank you for your assessment. We thank you for your

 15 assessment across the country -- across America, we have

 16 seen once salmon habitat destroyed for mining and other

 17 development. This is the last habitat in the world.

 18 52 percent of the world's sockeye salmon come from -- come

 19 from these waters and come from Bristol Bay.

 20 Along with BBNC and 31 villages passed the

 21 resolution, and that is asking the EPA to act on the

 22 assessment and also act on the 404(c) process. On behalf

 23 of my cultural background and generations of subsistence,

 24 ask for the support of your assessment. We've been asking

 25 our state government and agencies within this state with

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 1 no avail to protect these waters. We've invited the EPA

 2 to recognize and protect this place. I urge you to keep

 3 to your timeline that you've laid out in the process and

 4 act on 404(c) on behalf of the people that cannot be here,

 5 I -- I ask please, to protect our future for our

 6 generations that are yet to come. Thank you.

 7 MR. WANG: Thank you. My name is Christopher

 8 Wang, and I'm a commercial fishermen here in Bristol Bay.

 9 During the off season I live in San Francisco and work as

 10 a chef. As a chef I have realized salmon is truly one of

 11 the last sustainable wild food sources in the world. I

 12 challenge you to name another that is wild, sustainable,

 13 and harvested on this scale, tuna, cod, kelp. Up to this

 14 point there's been no other culture to farm salmon,

 15 farming salmon taste like it didn't have a different

 16 animal, it's died to protect the acid as lower level of

 17 three's and higher levels of PCP. It's a shame that

 18 people call it salmon.

 19 We are living in a world with increasing

 20 population who need food and water supply. We carry

 21 certain level less than arrogant, we think that technology

 22 will save us. And we can install tangible containments

 23 for entailments and genetically generate new food. Why

 24 would a watershed, or -- even best case scenario, the

 25 worst case scenario is a damaged and doubted ecosystem

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 1 lost. I want the EPA to realize that the system is not

 2 limited to the Bristol Bay watershed, it is impacted

 3 through the world.

 4 If you took the time to walk the streets of

 5 Dillingham, it tells it's own story. This is the working

 6 town, the broad card activity as upcoming salmon looms on

 7 the horizon, take a closer look at the Hurlalong Fire

 8 Station [phonetic] -- this is how this works, the welcome

 9 to Dillingham banner poles, the multi-colored sand, and

 10 the exterior walls of the library, the mural on the side

 11 of the gas station on the way out of town. And every one

 12 of these examples, salmon formed the art work backbone of

 13 this community by nourishment, financial stability,

 14 culture, multi-generation interactions, families working

 15 together to harvest and store enough food to keep them

 16 through the winter. Take this away not only as a cultural

 17 backbone but a main source of food is lost. Thank you.

 18 MR. RAYMOND: Hello members of the EPA; my name

 19 is Tyrone Raymond. I'm a commercial fishermen, I'm third

 20 generation; and I've lived here my entire life. As

 21 officials charges, the well being of our environment,

 22 given the job of attempting to keep our environment as

 23 good as condition as possible. Given the circumstances in

 24 the demands of our civilization, Galveston's spent much of

 25 their time going to the -- picking up the pieces have not

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 1 gone according to plan, this is taken lightly.

 2 Yet here you face a chance to do something so

 3 proactively for the good of the entire region, it's people

 4 and countless multitude, on healthy vast and verse

 5 ecosystem. How often does a chance like this come about?

 6 A decision about whether to develop a beautiful pristine

 7 place like western Alaska goes way beyond all arguments,

 8 it goes way beyond speculating whether or not the notable

 9 changes will be good or bad for the people who live here.

 10 It goes to a much broader issue, which is as human beings

 11 will be able to change our short term view of economic

 12 gain for a view that recognizes the meaning of true wealth

 13 to ourselves and to all the other creatures that inhabit

 14 this region and need this planet.

 15 I support the draft assessment and am hopeful

 16 that due process the EPA will vote the 404(c) based on

 17 some science, common sense, and a vision of future that

 18 understands the meaningful difference between the abstract

 19 of wealth and true wealth the Bristol Bay Region is wealth

 20 in body. Thank you.

 21 MR. BECK: I want to say thank you for all the

 22 hard work. My name is Matt Beck, and I'm a commercial

 23 fishermen here in Bristol Bay. Salmon and water, these

 24 are just a few small part of resources that is here to

 25 helps us to survive. These resources of life are exactly

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 1 put at risk when we even think about putting a mine

 2 anywhere. Gold, copper, these things only give us a false

 3 sense of life in a world we continue to get more and more

 4 detached from nature. When is it enough? When does it

 5 end? The Pebble Mine, if we can stop it now, the same for

 6 the whole world, that we have the ability to protect

 7 nature, we have the ability to stop things like this from

 8 happening, we need to make that statement. We need to

 9 show the world that it is possible to protect.

 10 What does it take to stop wrecking the earth?

 11 Instead, teach people what we really need to live. All

 12 the money in the world can't bring back extinct species or

 13 truly decontaminate a natural resource. When does society

 14 start thinking about our future? I consider myself

 15 extremely fortunate to be a first generation fishermen and

 16 surrounded by these great people who have built

 17 generations of life around these resources.

 18 The last nine years of life have been built

 19 around this world. I can only hope that I -- all that I

 20 can, children my grandchildren can stand here surrounding

 21 by these family and generations. All these generations

 22 are amazing people who I am sure know the true essence of

 23 life and survival. I wonder how many miners can say the

 24 same thing? I really support your assessment. Close to

 25 250 seats are in here, it's not just the salmon, the

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 1 water, it's our air, it's our land quality. Best case

 2 scenario failure is likely, and I think that can be --

 3 understatement even from the scientific side point of

 4 view. Failure is immanent, it's human nature. And it

 5 will happen and it will hurt this environment. Thank you.

 6 MS. HOSETH: Hi, my name is Debbie Hoseth; I'm

 7 from Twin Hills. I lived in Dillingham for 18 years

 8 before I moved back. When I moved back I realized that we

 9 -- living off the land and living traditionally with

 10 advice from my Elders, we have to take care of our land in

 11 order for our land to take care of us. So the more I

 12 learn about the pebble, it's very, very personal to me to

 13 be against it, to take care of our land and our land will

 14 take care of us in return. Thank you.

 15 MR. HOFFERLE: Good afternoon. And people are

 16 trying to drown the government in a bathtub, your actions

 17 in preparing this assessment are completely warranted and

 18 stand up to the -- what we expect from the Environmental

 19 Protection Agency. So your actions are both welcome and

 20 your bureaucratically heroic. Thank you. We've given up

 21 on the State of Alaska I think in terms of getting a fair

 22 shake, a fair assessment of this project. I've been

 23 trying to think which six items I ought to address today.

 24 And I think probably the most important has to do with

 25 risk.

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 1 And the -- the international commission on large

 2 dams bulletin 121 addresses tailing dam failures. And the

 3 three most prominent reasons for fail tailing dam failures

 4 arises from over chopping unusual rain fall, seismic

 5 liquefaction, and important of institutional of failures.

 6 And I'd like to address each one of the those if I could.

 7 First of all, I would like to say that the values

 8 you use when you're addressing seismic failures I think is

 9 inadequate, the data base is mines from 2000-mile from all

 10 over the world. I think your data base ought to be

 11 addressing specifically mines from seismically active

 12 areas, and I think that would change the probabilities of

 13 what's going on.

 14 In terms of overtopping, a couple of years ago,

 15 this was springtime, I saw the whole Douchebag Basin

 16 [phonetic] from black coin all the way up that was

 17 underwater. And in terms of management of tailings

 18 facilities or institutional stuff, we don't have any human

 19 institutions that go back even a thousand years. I think

 20 that you need to assess -- reassess roots. I'll address

 21 the other issues in written comments. Thank you very much

 22 for being here.

 23 MR. LISAC: Thank you for this opportunity, I

 24 appreciate you being -- watershed assessment efforts. The

 25 independent peer review process that's been planned and

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 1 encourage finding of unacceptable adverse effects and to

 2 prohibit the court for issues 404 permits for large scale

 3 developments. I don't believe the State of Alaska permits

 4 process or enforcement protect this valuable resource. I

 5 finely approach the fact that I'm very revealing,

 6 especially the non-failures. Even without failure, a

 7 large open pit mine will have unacceptable impacts,

 8 fugitive dust alone are -- is great harm to people in the

 9 environment.

 10 Open pit mining is not rocket science, the

 11 technologies safeguards have been around a long time.

 12 Around the world all take leave and have caused water

 13 quality on issues, mostly open pit mines are a desert of

 14 mines, which Bristol Bay is pretty much a swamp. So even

 15 under the blown failure scenarios is not a question of if

 16 or when the impacts of the ecosystem will occur. There is

 17 really only one reason that Bristol Bay is the largest

 18 salmon region in the world, and that's because we've

 19 destroyed all the others.

 20 From the -- to the Columbia River, primarily

 21 habitant destruction. So it's time to make a stand to

 22 clean water and fish and protect this viable ecosystem.

 23 Really what's the hurry? The minerals will be there in

 24 the future maybe technology will advance to allow a safe

 25 extraction of mineral and the handling of waste materials.

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 1 Maybe salmon will go away like the dinosaurs and our

 2 planet will warm as predicted and then we can harvest

 3 these minerals. Thank you.

 4 MS. WILSON: Hi, my name is Jacquelyn Wilson.

 5 Thank you for coming together to hear our testimonies. In

 6 Alaska the people that I teach, people have been coming to

 7 Alaska for their benefits. Take, for example, the Russian

 8 period. On west wiping an entire fur bearing exchange.

 9 And now the giant is knocking at the door to rape our

 10 resources and our pristine environment. Please do not let

 11 this happen. We value our commercial fisheries, the only

 12 one of its kind worldwide. We value our subsistence way

 13 of life and our culture. Please support the Clean Water

 14 Act and protect last frontier of our great nation. Thank

 15 you.

 16 MS. WASSILLIE: Hi, my name is Emm Wassillie. I

 17 lived in Togiak for the last 30 years. And I'm the proud

 18 mother of five children, and my husband is a commercial

 19 fishermen; and two of my sons also fish. Our subsistence

 20 way of life is really important to my father and mother.

 21 We all work together after to make sure we have

 22 subsistence. Without clean water and healthy environment,

 23 we wouldn't be able to live off the land like our people

 24 always have. I always oppose the Pebble Mine, because I

 25 want our lands and water protected so my grandchildren can

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 1 live a subsistence land life as well.

 2 I've always have way of life to my children and

 3 grandchildren to know how important for them to do the

 4 same and not only ensure culture, but so we can survive.

 5 Even with a job the cost of living in our villages is high

 6 and our traditionally are what keep food on our tables and

 7 our culture -- cultures thriving. And I want to thank you

 8 for doing the Briston Bay Watershed Assessment. And now

 9 you have your scientific proof and large scale mining are

 10 hurting our watershed. Please act now and protect Bristol

 11 Bay. Thank you.

 12 MR. WASSILY, JR.: Good afternoon, and welcome to

 13 Dillingham. I'm Steve Wassily Jr., originally from Starts

 14 Point. I've fished most of my life. I started when I was

 15 9, and I'm 56; so what's that, like 46 -- 47 years? And

 16 I'm still young, and I'm still fishing. And I have three

 17 sons I'm very proud of.

 18 But anyway, I'm here to say that we're talking

 19 about quality. Help us keep our quality, quality of fish,

 20 quality of the animals, the water we drink. It's very

 21 important; because if the mine goes through, throw all

 22 that quality out the window. Even farm fish can't compare

 23 to the quality of fish that we catch commercially and

 24 subsistence. And we need the birds, everything all the --

 25 you know, depends on water. And right now how many

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 1 bottles of these would it take to make a gallon? Imagine

 2 how much it would cost us to drink water? Because this is

 3 what's going to happen if the Pebble Mine goes through,

 4 price of water is more than gas per gallon. I mean, it's

 5 not easy to -- to make that kind of money. Please help us

 6 keep our water clean. Thank you.

 7 MS. TREYDETTE: Patricia Treydette; I lived in

 8 Dillingham. I'm A subsistence and a commercial fishermen.

 9 This surprised me -- notice from the meetings in Anchorage

 10 a lot of Alaskans are not huge fans of the Feds and EPA in

 11 general. And so, you know, that took a lot for us to come

 12 to you guys and ask for help. And we appreciate that you

 13 came. It's kind of a conflict of interest for resource

 14 developments involved, particularly when the government is

 15 -- is somewhere else and we're a rural community without

 16 much population to vote. So we're going to get basically

 17 what goes down little here -- they aren't in Anchorage,

 18 and so -- it's kind of important to us to -- you're the

 19 ones that can come riding to the rescue, I hope.

 20 We really appreciate you're doing the plan. I

 21 think it's extremely conservative. I -- I think there's

 22 probably more threat than what you're seeing, but I

 23 appreciate you're recognizing the fact that Pebble doesn't

 24 have to put a mine plan for us to know what they have to

 25 do to make it economically and physically develop. So you

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 1 guys definitely did the right thing there. What I didn't

 2 see in the plan was anything addressing the ongoing damage

 3 from the exploration. I don't know if I missed that or

 4 it's simply not within the scope of your program. But

 5 it's ongoing, it's happening now, it is doing damage. I

 6 haven't been -- the ground there, but I have friends and

 7 relatives who have, and there is damage. So the sooner

 8 this happens, the fewer the ways they are, the more we can

 9 save. Damage is already been done and continues to be

 10 done. So. Thank you.

 11 MS. SAMUELSEN: Hi, I'm Robin Samuelsen. I'm

 12 president and CEO of the Bristol Bay corporation; and I

 13 represent 17 communities in the Bristol Bay Region. Thank

 14 you for coming out today and doing this assessment done on

 15 Bristol Bay. I want to roll back a few years when the

 16 State of Alaska and the federal government was managing

 17 subsistence. The State of Alaska was managing

 18 subsistence, because they got compliance with -- now we

 19 have U.S. and Fish and Wildlife Service in Alaska managing

 20 subsistence, and since the State changed its mind.

 21 Today my board strongly opposes the Pebble Mine.

 22 We feel that we've spent millions of dollars in trying to

 23 improve the quality. A few years ago these people behind

 24 me could get $0.40 a pound, nobody was making money, this

 25 last year the salmon prices were $1.45 a pound, that's why

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 1 our economy improved our quality of product tremendously.

 2 We can't keep the farm salmon, both Chili and -- and

 3 Norway. But we need to have clean water. We also have

 4 one of the biggest canneries in Alaska. We are a salmon

 5 producing company. BBNC we own 50 percent of the ocean

 6 duty sea foods. It's been our largest investment. If

 7 that mine goes through and there's damage to the water

 8 quality, we will lose our customers. You guys hold the

 9 key.

 10 We don't get a fair deal from the State of

 11 Alaska. We feel that there was 67 permits that needs to

 12 be issued to be Pebble Mine votes, 66 of them are going to

 13 come from the State of Alaska and one from you guys, it is

 14 EPA. We're putting our faith into the EPA system, because

 15 we -- fair shake from the State of Alaska on this issue.

 16 And I think you seen that last night in the testimony in

 17 Anchorage. We've -- I've gone through the assessment and

 18 I think you guys done a real good job on -- on the first

 19 cut you -- you've entered into a reason. The last five,

 20 six years, and there's still a lot of questions to be

 21 answered.

 22 The bottom line for us is, we have a economy out

 23 here; our economy is improving. We are getting more and

 24 more permits than watershed residents have, and we need to

 25 continue on with our due diligence and stop the Pebble

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 1 Mine. We don't want that damn mine in Bristol Bay.

 2 UNKNOWN SPEAKER: Hi, good afternoon. I am here

 3 today to speak against the Pebble Mine. The land and the

 4 water sustain lives for many of thousands for years. And

 5 hold this toxics of it, it will not stand. Please help us

 6 to save the water. Thank you.

 7 MS. HENRY: My name is Julius Henry; I'm from

 8 Twin Hills Council. I'm here to speak on behalf of the

 9 council. As you know, the waters that came and everything

 10 when it really changed the way of life. It will not only

 11 change the fish, but it allows effect the way south and

 12 the mammals of areas I -- I want EPA to help us on this.

 13 Thank you.

 14 MR. BOUKER: Thank you very much for inviting me

 15 here. My name is David Bouker, and I've lived here for a

 16 number of years. Our family's fishing history here goes

 17 back -- my personal history goes back some 30 years. My

 18 daughter-in-law's history goes back a number of

 19 generations uncountable. And my wife's parents, they go

 20 back to the 1930s and '40s.

 21 However, to go back a little bit, about 45 years

 22 ago I used to work for a mining company in Bristol Bay.

 23 And this was a mining company that used to dredge. The --

 24 the dredge pond, which is behind the dredge, was upstream

 25 of the dredge, and the out roll from that, which I think

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 1 was called the salmon river, flowed about a mile and a

 2 half into the crest near Bristol Bay. And the river

 3 itself was muddy and the bay for a half a mile out was

 4 just pure yellow, and obviously we had no fish. And

 5 whether they got fish now or not, I don't know. But the

 6 -- the situation at that time looked pretty sad. That's

 7 all I have. Thank you.

 8 MS. FRITZE: Thank you for conducting this

 9 assessment. My name is Annie Fritze. I am a small

 10 business owner relying on the beaver, river otter, and on

 11 fur bearing animals to help sustain my small business. I

 12 am also a lifelong subsistence user and a mother of three

 13 children and four grandchildren who enjoy our salmon,

 14 moose, caribou, edible plants, and berries. Since time,

 15 this magnificent and mostly untouched region has been home

 16 to my ancestors, peoples residing on the rivers for

 17 centuries; they followed a traditional way of life in

 18 pursuit of subsisting off the land. And most importantly,

 19 its valuable natural resource is salmon.

 20 Each year more than one million salmon return to

 21 the rivers and streams where the salmon hatch and spawn

 22 for the next cycle of life. This is such an ancient

 23 behavior that has supported hundreds of generations of

 24 humans. So long as a salmon return to the river to

 25 nourish its land and waters and its people, all other

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 1 animals find the haven and subsistence here too. The

 2 spawning and dying of salmon help create the soils for the

 3 berries, plants, grasses, shrubs, and trees to take root

 4 and complete the cycle of life. Water is very important

 5 to us. Without clean water there is no life. Of concern

 6 is the development of one of the worlds largest open pit

 7 mines located near Lake Clark. This mine will rest on the

 8 head waters of the Kobuk River. The Kobuk River flows

 9 into the Mauneluk River which then joins New Mash River

 10 [phonetic] and flows out to the Bristol Bay.

 11 This is my granddaughter.

 12 MS. FRITZE: My name is Cabella Fritze. I love

 13 fish. I do not want Pebble Mine. I help my grandmother

 14 in the smokehouse. Once the fish is done, it is very

 15 yummy. I also like moose and caribou. Please protect the

 16 -- our waters.

 17 MS. AYOJLAK: Phyllis Ayojlak, and I'm a proud

 18 mother of six and a grandmother as well. I'm from Togiak

 19 and work for the Togiak traditional council'S

 20 environmental program as the coordinator. I want to say

 21 I'm in favor of EPA Briston Bay Watershed Assessment. I'm

 22 happy it was done in a timely manner and the public review

 23 period is adequate. I appreciate the EPA doing the

 24 watershed assessment towards the environmental impacts

 25 that the proposed pebble project may cause. I want to say

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 1 that the subsistence is my livelihood and I'm also a

 2 commercial fisherwoman in Togiak. My grandmother was also

 3 a commercial fisherwoman, and I now fish the permits she

 4 passed down to me.

 5 I'm so thankful I'm able to live a subsistence

 6 way of life like my ancestors, and I feel very threatened

 7 by the Pebble -- Pebble project. Our traditional way of

 8 life isn't possible without our land and water being

 9 clean. So I don't support the projects that risk our way

 10 of life continuing into the future. We are -- coming here

 11 and listening to us, and I'm in full support of you taking

 12 action to protect our people here in Bristol Bay.

 13 MR. DUNAWAY: Thank you. I'm Dan Dunaway; I was

 14 born and raised and educated in Alaska. I've lived in

 15 Dillingham 23 years. I first started working Bristol Bay

 16 in 1973. I've lived in southwest Alaska since about 1978

 17 here in Dutch Harbor. For a retired fishing guy of

 18 22 years of experience in the department of Fish & Game.

 19 The last 15 years of my career spent here in the Bristol

 20 Bay fisheries all over. I sit on the Fish & Game for --

 21 and Bristol Bay Subsistence Federal Council.

 22 I applaud the EPA for getting up to speed this

 23 mining thing early in the process. Too often government

 24 is short. This time I think you're doing it right.

 25 Overall my greatest concern is -- is the fear of pollution

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 1 of this eruption of water and drainages of the area.

 2 Specifically from what I've been able to look at in your

 3 report, you generally use the open pit mines in the area.

 4 But I know there's a lot of talking about blocking caving

 5 touching on that full report; I think that needs to be

 6 explored further. Frankly, I'm more concerned about block

 7 caving where you don't know what's going on underground.

 8 And you don't know what's going to happen when things

 9 subside. So I hope that -- that could be expanded more.

 10 I'm sure that this mine coming up the mining

 11 companies are going to try to find a way to prepare for

 12 all the different scenarios. In addition, the state of

 13 Alaska has limited staff and no experience open -- and

 14 entirely never before mined an area on the scale you're

 15 looking at. They don't have the capacity; we need the

 16 national attention. This is a world resource; and I don't

 17 know how many fishermen that has come from all over the

 18 world to this spectacular, spectacular -- there's no other

 19 place like it. Thank you.

 20 MR. LATSHA: Hello, my name is Don Latsha; and my

 21 father is from Seattle, Washington. By the way, my father

 22 started this fishery in 1957; my brother and I got into it

 23 in 1971. We've been coming up here ever since. My

 24 brother and I are still around; my father's passed away.

 25 Fishing here is -- has had a traumatic input of life,

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 1 obviously, since before I was born. I watched the men

 2 staff in the early '70s take place and fishing stocks

 3 rebound, the fishery was faulted. We enjoyed through the

 4 late '70s on the fresh frozen market come in, raised our

 5 prices and they farm fishery attack and our prices

 6 dropped. All kind of excuses we in the bay of salmon have

 7 got our best to produce a quality fish through our -- our

 8 icing processes and the quality of the boats, we're just

 9 stocking everything we can.

 10 Now, we -- looking at a public perception that we

 11 have a mine that can't be contained above our pristine

 12 water. So I'm worried that, again, whether there is a

 13 fault or not a fault, the farm fishery community has a

 14 very apicale reason to say, "Hey, guys, community -- world

 15 community, you guys might be eating tainted fish here."

 16 So that's all I have to say I'm worried about is what

 17 might take place if the mine is installed. Thanks.

 18 MR. CHYTHLOOK: Good afternoon, my name is Joe

 19 Chythlook. I'm a BBNC shareholder, BBNC board member.

 20 I've been chairman for a couple years. And I'll speak on

 21 behalf of shareholders of who anyone -- percent of opposed

 22 to the development of the mine. And for those of you who

 23 are able to be here, thank you for coming, and also for

 24 the Briston Bay Watershed Assessment that you did.

 25 Ever since BBNC board took action in 2009,

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 1 there's been many discussions about this issue. And what

 2 we find in your report -- published report advisory and

 3 rating issues that we've been talking about. BBNC has

 4 always had a salmon first policy. And one finding salmon

 5 culture support that 100 percent. Another EPA finding

 6 that even if board if it mines. Another suggestion that

 7 98 percent of likely pipeline failure for 25 years of

 8 operation. And finally, failure of a tailing dam would

 9 cause a loss of up to 30,000 of king salmon and 10 to

 10 20 percent of king salmon potential impacts like these are

 11 unacceptable to me and the people I represent.

 12 Subsistence impacts culture, our culture, our

 13 primary food source and our long standing sustainable

 14 economy the make top effect us now and in our future.

 15 You're -- finally support Pebble Mine are simply too great

 16 for us to accept ourself and for those who come after.

 17 Therefore, I would simply urge that EPA take action under

 18 the 404(c) to protect the Bristol Bay salmon and BBNC will

 19 be there, to continue to be -- will for as long as we can.

 20 Thank you.

 21 MR. SCHINDLER: I'm Daniel Schindler; I'm a

 22 scientist with the fisheries institute to the University

 23 of Washington. We study salmon for the watersheds and

 24 ecosystems here -- Bristol Bay for over 16 years. And one

 25 of the things that remains our viewpoint is basically how

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 1 little we know about these systems. They are incredibly

 2 complex ecosystems. And that complexly hurdle toward

 3 environment of assessment development. Whether you can do

 4 proper assessment in one of 10 years is almost irrelevant.

 5 What we need to be able to do is draw information and

 6 experience from other places where mining has been

 7 developed, and we also need to be able to use common

 8 sense.

 9 It appears that the EPA review of potential

 10 impacts over this mine is -- is objective. And draws

 11 fairly from other places as well as the existing

 12 information that's been produced from Bristol Bay salmon.

 13 So in general, we support your report and objective and

 14 fair assessment of potential risks. Thank you.

 15 MR. FRIS-MIKKELSEN: Hi, thanks for letting me

 16 speak with you today. I'm John Fris-Mikkelsen. I've been

 17 fishing here in the bay since I was 12. I'm here every

 18 summer since I was just a baby, ever since my family has

 19 been coming up. And it's really important that you hear

 20 all this testimony; I don't want you to believe everything

 21 I tell you today. A couple of points that I think maybe

 22 is one thing that I saw missing possibly from the

 23 assessment in my reading of it was the sort of decisional

 24 intra-structure that maybe included in the development of

 25 the area and mineral development, but it has not -- is not

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 1 directly related necessarily to the mining housing of all

 2 of employees needed, help and utilities, power generation

 3 that seem it was explicitly was left out of this stage of

 4 the assessment. I think it's important that that be

 5 looked at along with many of the other elements that have

 6 not yet been included in the assessment.

 7 Finally, I just wanted to bring your attention to

 8 the types of jobs that we have here. You know we can talk

 9 about dollars and cents and cost benefit analysis, fishery

 10 versus the mining; but we have very unique jobs here. We

 11 have owner/operator businesses and immense opportunities,

 12 very low cost. So if people want to get any businesses

 13 and build their businesses, and I think that's incredible,

 14 and not only that, but it's a value that you know the

 15 politicians look to small businesses in the country and

 16 how much that means to our economy, and this is really an

 17 example of where we have those small businesses. This is

 18 a small business mecca here in Bristol Bay. That's really

 19 incredible. I really think that bears repeating -- maybe

 20 last best hope here in the bay, so thanks so -- and keep

 21 up the good work. Thank you.

 22 MR. STRUB: Thank you. My name is Henry Strub;

 23 I'm a 35-year fishermen here in Bristol Bay. And I think

 24 I built everything up here, including my family up in --

 25 what appears to me is that it seems to be far easier to

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 1 reserve renewal resources than to regenerate one that's

 2 become ruined. An example is the Toms Rover in the

 3 northwest, it has been very good for a lot of people

 4 compared to a project like this where a little bit of mine

 5 materials will be mined the property will be built. I

 6 suspect that the enhancement efforts and recovery efforts

 7 on the river every year are more valuable, more expensive,

 8 and -- what that mine could produce here. And when we

 9 look at our country, all of the herd of bison killed, the

 10 big three haves been cut down.

 11 But here's a resource that's good as it ever was

 12 come and experience this and pick up sewer it -- with

 13 modern equipment and the salmon is such a wonderful

 14 renewable creature that it decides it's going to die. So

 15 when it comes home, all we have to do is embrace them, get

 16 enough of them to get the run in the future and all the

 17 rest are for our use. And I want to say that to my family

 18 later on too. Thank you.

 19 MS. ROBINETTE: Hi, my name is Jennifer

 20 Robinette. Half my family is from Bristol Bay. And my

 21 ancestors have lived here for generations. Five years ago

 22 my husband and I bought a house in Florida at the height

 23 of the housing war, and overnight that house was worth

 24 half of what we paid for it, and today it's worth a third

 25 of that. We had more than that reason to move back to

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 1 Alaska. We missed Alaska. And I had an opportunity to

 2 come back and learn my culture from my relatives.

 3 Two years ago I had never cut salmon. Now, I

 4 live off the subsistence food. There was times after

 5 winter year that we ran out of food because we ran out of

 6 fuel and a cold -- the house went cold in the winter

 7 because we didn't have enough money to buy fuel. But that

 8 didn't worry us because we had salmon we put up the summer

 9 before. Now, baby boy, Charles Darwin, is old enough to

 10 ask for the food that he likes the most; and he asks for

 11 salmon.

 12 Environmentally aware people realize that the

 13 land plays a huge role -- is environmental services such

 14 as clean water. I hope that you can add to your

 15 assessment something that addresses clean drinking water;

 16 I didn't see that. There is another thing that I did not

 17 find I -- after looking through the three volumes. The

 18 biological threats to an environment that development

 19 brings such evasive plans there are evasive plans here in

 20 Alaska that add to the degradation of the salmon habitat,

 21 there are also evasive plans documented by -- that have

 22 killed the moose in Anchorage. So that would be great if

 23 you could address that.

 24 So thank you so much for your Briston Bay

 25 Watershed Assessment, and I have to thank the salmon.

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 1 MS. CLARK: Good afternoon. I'd like to thank

 2 Rick and Dennis for coming to Bristol Bay to listen to

 3 many of the stories told by our residents of the area. I

 4 was born and raised in Clarks Point. And for many years

 5 and centuries my family occupation as commercial fishermen

 6 and gathers and subsistence user. We catch over 3,000

 7 fish annually and pick over four hundred gallons of

 8 berries per year. We're people of the tundra and of the

 9 river.

 10 My testimony today is -- is to thank you for

 11 producing the Briston Bay Watershed Assessment. And I

 12 would like to thank the six tribes that were involved in

 13 inviting EPA to pursue this effort on behalf of the

 14 Bristol Bay people. The Alaska river watershed are two of

 15 the last of this cultures in the world. Water's a

 16 territory to the ocean and therefore to the sea. And many

 17 of our salmon beds are up in the upper territories where

 18 Pebble is identified. And we now withstand the risk of

 19 any development in the mining area that could poison, not

 20 only our fish, our water, our air, our land, and our

 21 animals.

 22 We are noematic people, and we gather from one

 23 location to another. We travel for 20,000 something miles

 24 in our area to gather our subsistence needs; we're social

 25 culture people. And the risk is too heavy, that risk is

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 1 not one century come or time. You cannot replace a

 2 culture or people or places when we were gone. Thank you.

 3 MS. RAMIREZ: Hi, my name is Kristina Ramirez;

 4 and I was born and raised here. And I fear what the world

 5 will do to the fish in the area. I want to thank you guys

 6 for coming out here and doing this assessment, it's very

 7 important to us. I also want to call attention to the

 8 fact that even if you build the mine and they have the

 9 capability to make it safe, it still will destroy the

 10 89-mile road that's going to go over salmon streams.

 11 I know for a fact that whenever you build

 12 something around a place where mammals are present, the

 13 animals disappear because of what you built is taking on

 14 their habitat. These salmons are a very important local

 15 resources to us, they can't be replaced by anything else.

 16 I would like you to please act on a timely manner on the

 17 404(c), and please keep to your time line on the comment

 18 period. Thank you.

 19 MS. WILLIAMS: We were just dealing with a minor

 20 crisis, that crisis is king salmon. I apologize for being

 21 out there. Thank you for the watershed assessment, and

 22 thank you for coming into the Bristol Bay Region. As I

 23 reviewed your assessment, I specially liked the section on

 24 Alaska Native cultures. As a leader here in my community,

 25 my tribe conducts culture camp every year so that we

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 1 maintain a sustainable salmon based culture for our

 2 children and future generations. Page 2-19 touches on

 3 this, and I need a course on the section. However, on

 4 page E4-9 we don't believe that the section that

 5 identifies us, maintaining our ties is 4,000 years. We

 6 believe it more to be 10,000 years.

 7 It is not only that the salmon from my food on

 8 the table for generations in the past and today, but we

 9 recognize through the assessment salmon that we want to

 10 maintain our future. After all, we were only borrowing

 11 this land, water and air from the future that is yet to

 12 come. My children, like my generation, are subsistence,

 13 sport, and commercial fishermen. My children check the

 14 subsistence net on the beach with their grandparents, just

 15 like I did 40 plus years ago with my parents. My children

 16 love going up to the lake or up in the river with their

 17 grandparents to sports fish or fresh water fish and

 18 salmon, just like I did.

 19 As we move into the commercial salmon season, my

 20 oldest and my youngest boys will fish commercially with

 21 their grandfather. The assessment doesn't pull this

 22 relationship into one section, nor does it recognize the

 23 risk under the fish immediate fish risks section page 23

 24 of the executive summary, that relationship occurs here

 25 out in the bay and I think needs to do that.

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 1 Finally, the last thing, we ask you do not extend

 2 the comment period as requested by the State of Alaska.

 3 They never accommodate us, so why the heck should we

 4 accommodate them? And their -- my opinion they only made

 5 the request for political purposes. And so -- and I

 6 believe they want to see a change in presidency. So as

 7 long as they extend you out maybe a new president will

 8 come in and they'll get their way. Thank you.

 9 MR. NANALOOK: (Undiscernible speaker.) I'm

 10 sorry for being ill informed, but I addressed to this --

 11 colleague. From brief history of who I am. My real name

 12 -- my real testimony is -- I'm adopted, my adopted name is

 13 Kenneth Nanalook. I was born and raised with the exact

 14 same people who are here. I understudied my degree of --

 15 of California, Los Angeles, or I don't like -- history in

 16 1963 and the reprint in 1980 -- and other Michigan. That

 17 disclosed our existing I dated back to 30 thousand years

 18 BC. But rest assured, some of the -- they're finding

 19 became quote unquote, best guess. Simply because there

 20 were -- they had not lived, experienced the means to reach

 21 the -- much here's the walk the walk, talk the talk that

 22 we do.

 23 This amendment is composed of -- made up of who

 24 we buy or sustain from -- our lands of timely this day and

 25 age by actually take use and hand on experience harvest

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 1 dressing operation clean, cook, and drink process of

 2 harvest to taste is to -- out this process up here points

 3 to head. This end process is what we eat when something

 4 does not look exactly how it is to look, when there's

 5 something wrong with the food chain and is the -- on the

 6 way. We are here for compelling reason.

 7 Yet again, faced with issue at the idea of the

 8 Pebble project but careful pattern of thing fish -- which

 9 impact youth and taken part of the diet would be

 10 eliminating, not if topics come into contact with the

 11 world renowned salmon with proven that fair oil is not

 12 good for the heart. And however, I conclude and thank you

 13 for -- to collect the first -- firsthand and concern that

 14 is the dramatic live off this land.

 15 However, I urge your good office to convey with

 16 the vote of confidence to Secretary of Interior to act --

 17 move under -- the fish responsibility the office carry to

 18 protect the fish population that -- protect my statutory

 19 definition by congress and other public law. I would like

 20 to submit this for the record.

 21 MS. CARSCALLEN: Good afternoon. Thank you. My

 22 name is Katherine Carscallen; I'm was born and raised here

 23 in Dillingham. And I' fish commercially and subsistence

 24 my whole life. I'm a third generation fishermen here.

 25 First of all, I would like to thank you for taking the

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 1 time and effort and all the hard work on this assessment.

 2 I believe it's a preposterous task to define the volume as

 3 fisheries and adopting it and numbers will always

 4 undervalue resource means to people who depend on most.

 5 But what you're hearing here today will hopefully help

 6 fill the rest in on the assessment.

 7 There was one major point that -- given so far,

 8 it's a detail that should be included in the assessment,

 9 but also it's reason why the tribal fishermen are asking

 10 for your help and action now. I'm talking about impacts

 11 region that are going on right now on a massive scale with

 12 no end IN sight. Effects of fuel spills, water

 13 generation, connection of generation degradation of

 14 significant and going on unchecked. I'll submit that

 15 subject and hope it be included in you're final

 16 assessment, more often the social impacts of the

 17 exploration region right now.

 18 You can ask anyone what the concern for future

 19 is, overall it's about worrying about losing their

 20 livelihood or way of life, all to mining development that

 21 we don't want and thus has been out of our power to stop.

 22 It's tremendous -- have stopped mine by now we would have

 23 not -- jumping to the conclusions antidevelopment gone

 24 through the process you're going through right now. Our

 25 local city comments fishing organizations we've all done

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 1 everything we can to ensure that fisheries protection --

 2 protected, but we're not the agency with the power to do

 3 that; your agency was given the power on the nations Clean

 4 Water Act gives you the authority and responsibility to

 5 take actions in situations just like this now.

 6 And so I thank you and hope this -- your

 7 assessment. And what I really ask you to do, the

 8 conclusions you've already found are very clear what we

 9 already know that this type of development pose an

 10 unacceptable adverse to the resources; please take action.

 11 Thank you.

 12 MS. TINKER: My name is Tina Tinker. I was born

 13 here in 1958, but was raised in the Lower 48 until I was

 14 19 and returned to meet my father. Since I got back I had

 15 to learn my Native ways, ways of life. I remember when I

 16 was a little girl sitting on my mother's lap and eating

 17 dried fish and -- I still remember my mother getting

 18 upset, she wanted to eat her fish she loved, which she

 19 loved so much by herself and wishing I was playing

 20 outside. But I couldn't stop eating and couldn't get

 21 enough of our dry salmon.

 22 When I first heard of this mine pebble, I told

 23 myself, "Why would we want to destroy our lands and fish

 24 when we have so much pristine water, which gives us life

 25 for so many generations?" Since my Natives presence

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 1 known, I have made great efforts to correct great baseline

 2 water quality studies and influence data since 2004, and

 3 have seen a change to this land. Truly there is salmon

 4 all over the area now, a day -- now a day we go up there

 5 and you don't see them like I used to. This is telling me

 6 that the exploration for gold and copper may already be

 7 affecting the salmon that returns every year.

 8 Now, that rock is doing exploration, we are now

 9 seeing the pike population be affected. We ask Bristol

 10 Bay residents, fish resources, whether it's salmon or

 11 other and fish that has kept our Native culture alive. We

 12 also take great pride in teaching our children our way of

 13 life by living off our resources like fish, caribou, and

 14 moose. Which gold and cooper will never teach our Native

 15 way of life or even feed our children.

 16 So I'm asking you today to please help protect

 17 our Bristol Bay watershed from large scale mining; because

 18 if we don't act now, we may never see our way of life

 19 again. Thank you.

 20 MR. HIRUTSUKU: Hi, My name is Thomas Hirutsuku

 21 from Dillingham and up the villages. You know, even if

 22 this mine -- I hope you it don't go through, because, you

 23 know, the come -- I've been all the way up the river, you

 24 know, because I drink that water, because if this mining

 25 does come through, we won't be able to drink it and camp

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 1 on it, we won't live off it. It's going to hurt us and

 2 the salmon. Because we do go up there, go up the river

 3 because we like it, it's clear, good water.

 4 I like drinking that water. That's the good area

 5 for camping and enjoying our freedom with the animals and

 6 fish. And I love fish. I've been fishing all my life.

 7 And, you know, and we want our grandkids to enjoy that,

 8 you know, enjoy our fish, enjoy our wildlife, and -- good

 9 fresh water we have. There's a fish fresh water, it goes

 10 back whether they're going to drink when they go up river.

 11 What they're going to have? There's nothing to drink

 12 because the water's all spoiled, because -- I like to have

 13 that water good, nice, and clean for our -- our

 14 generation, for our kids to be more happier. Thank you.

 15 MR. CHEYETTE: Good afternoon, my name is Daniel

 16 Cheyette. I represent the BBNC Native Corporation. This

 17 past year I've had the honor and good fortune to work with

 18 the BBNC board and shareholders, and I've come to greatly

 19 appreciate Bristol Bay and its people. The people who

 20 live here love this land, this place. And I've heard from

 21 so many the resource have supported their families for

 22 thousands of years. The fish of Bristol Bay are the

 23 region's greatest resource. Thank you for undertaking the

 24 assessment and assembling a better understanding of

 25 potential impacts of large scale mining development.

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 1 The -- there are many areas that the assessment

 2 has gotten right. The Bristol Bay supports the world's

 3 largest sockeye salmon fishery. That the fish and other

 4 wildlife are essential to the culture, structure, and

 5 economies of the region. And that subsistence harvest are

 6 essential to the people, on average obtain 80 percent of

 7 protein from these resources, yes, yes, yes. But

 8 nevertheless, there are other areas assessment that should

 9 be expanded.

 10 More attention should be focused on social

 11 economics of the fishermen and on other resources mean to

 12 the personnel economy economies of families. The roles

 13 the subsistence plays to the cultural fabric of these

 14 families and communities. The social cost to the

 15 communities if these resources disappear. The assessment

 16 should focus on how Bristol Bay would change if a mine or

 17 mines were to be developed, the additional social services

 18 that would be necessary, the stresses that would be

 19 introduced by the necessary expansion that would

 20 inevitably occur.

 21 In short, the assessment does a great job of

 22 identifying the more direct and immediate impacts that

 23 would result from the mine; but we need to peel back more

 24 layers, underlying changes of mining would cause the

 25 communities, families, and lives of Bristol Bay. I urge

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 1 you to finalize the assessment on the current time line

 2 and then start your restrictions that will protect the

 3 unique and special place. Thank you.

 4 MR. VICTOR NICK: I'm Friar Victor Nick. My son

 5 and I are both commercial fishermen here. I've always had

 6 fishing net ever since we were little children. A few

 7 years ago our -- our leaders in the church, known as the

 8 Bristol Bay Church, came together to allow the rest of us

 9 TO discover the uniqueness and the people within our

 10 church to bless the waters of the lake. And to sand they

 11 -- the waters, and so they the -- the -- the fish and

 12 moose, caribou, and everything that touches these --

 13 touched by the waters, including all our communities. And

 14 that's something we've done a few years ago, but that's

 15 what we've within doing for the past 200 years.

 16 Once the orthodox missionaries landed in the soil

 17 of Alaska, they've always do the blessings of waters. So

 18 this one realized that not just the orthodox enjoy these

 19 blessings, but everyone here in the -- in the town of

 20 Dillingham, in the villages up river and Togiak and all of

 21 us are touched by the waters; therefore, we're all touched

 22 by the blessings. Last year I was approached by members

 23 of the Pebble Mine, and to introduce themselves I once

 24 realized that I'm -- I'm for fishing, he walked away. How

 25 can I bless that mine that destroyed us? The mine takes

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 1 gold and cooper into one pocket and then take out the --

 2 from the other pocket for which way to vote.

 3 So I thank you very much for being here for the

 4 people here. This is our life -- this is our life. Thank

 5 you.

 6 MS. HURLEY: Good afternoon. My name is Alannah

 7 Hurley. I'm here today as grandmother and the daughter of

 8 parents Dessert Hurley [phonetic]. I was born and raised

 9 here in Bristol Bay, and I'm fortunate to live a

 10 subsistence way of life. I'm also a commercial

 11 fisherwoman. First, thank you very much for -- water

 12 assessment. I saw your slide earlier that our subsistence

 13 way of life is qualified worth of $6,000,000 annually.

 14 Although I appreciate your calculation, I beg to differ.

 15 You cannot set a price tag to define yourself as

 16 subsistence, some people of -- attempting to assign a

 17 price tag to life itself. Listen to us, as you've heard

 18 all day from all these people with the culture and way of

 19 life is priceless.

 20 The last point, the executive summary states that

 21 the actual response of Alaska impacts is uncertain. And

 22 it isn't possible to predict specific changes in

 23 demographics, cultural practices, or physical and mental

 24 health. You can get the answer to this question by simply

 25 looking into history of many of the innocent people now

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 1 impacted negatively by mining like the -- whose cultures

 2 existence has been and continues to be affected by the

 3 mining industry. And as you've heard today from every

 4 single person who stood up and is connected to Bristol

 5 Bay, we will tell you what will happen to our people if

 6 miners were -- you destroy our home. Our culture will

 7 die. Our fishing economy will crash, and our thriving

 8 Bristol Bay will be a haunting memory of what we used to

 9 have.

 10 I have a hundred voices of people who couldn't

 11 make it today pleading with you to not let it happen. You

 12 have your scientific evidence of -- have always known.

 13 Bristol Bay is worth protecting. We know our land will

 14 always take care of us as long as we fight to protect it.

 15 Now, do what we all know is right to Bristol Bay watershed

 16 into action and use your authority under 404(c) to protect

 17 Bristol Bay.

 18 MR. CHYTHLOOK: Hi you guys, good to see you. My

 19 name is Daniel Chythlook, you know me you as the tribal

 20 coordinator. Clean water has been told by -- without

 21 clean help to water not. You want to ensure that you are

 22 drinking clean water. Salmon, along with fresh waters

 23 fish, has been part of the food system and will continue

 24 to be part of the food system; so we hope you guys keep

 25 it.

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 1 I don't -- the one place that's major salmons

 2 spawning tributaries that salmon goes to hatch. Salmon

 3 has been part of our Native spiritual food; and without

 4 the food and waters we will die slowly, we'll be here

 5 existing, but our spirit will be gone. Other people

 6 realize our salmon is commercial and Bristol Bay is one of

 7 many areas of five species of land is spawn. We'd like to

 8 see our salmon continue to return and the waters remain

 9 healthy so they can spawn and other places that, of

 10 course, clean waters are needed to help our moose,

 11 caribou, fresh water fisheries all to survive. It's a

 12 gift to be here today at this assessment. Yee haw.

 13 MR. CUNNINGHAM: Hi, I'm Curry Cunningham. I do

 14 commercial fishing in Bristol Bay. With college fishing

 15 out here. While I'll applaud your assessment, I wonder if

 16 the risk -- that risk probability that is generated is

 17 underestimated, they come from the literature review of

 18 other mines around the world is one of the most unstable

 19 places on the earth. Another question that proposed to me

 20 after reviewing the document was the cost of maintaining

 21 the mines for long time, forever is a long time. Much

 22 longer life span of most corporations, so then who's going

 23 to foot the bill in the long run?

 24 To save a last effort to save the residents of

 25 Bristol Bay and finally plea with respect to the criticism

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 1 that your actions are premature, being the lack of permit

 2 applications. I would venture to say that there has

 3 already been an impact. Exploratory mining is already

 4 ongoing. In just two years ago gallons of fuel were

 5 spilled in the river as a direct result of development

 6 actions. That's all. Thank you.

 7 MR. RADENBURGH: Thank you very much. I very

 8 much appreciate all the work that's been done, and my name

 9 is Todd Radenburgh. I'm with the UAF Bristol Bay campus

 10 environmental, I'm a professor here. And you say we need

 11 science, getting science you need one thing, I would like

 12 to mention we didn't see in the reports that say we had

 13 two very fabulous -- last nine-months hear in Dillingham.

 14 A lot of people who are in this room presented all kinds

 15 of data that abstract books, and I guess you call it

 16 literature. We'd like to see some of that information

 17 maybe to be included in this next version of the document.

 18 Another issue is, I love to see a real definition

 19 of the world perpetuity. The second generations pay the

 20 -- to me it says seven million years, 100 million years,

 21 all this has implications of scale. So I'd like to see

 22 scale issues as well, individual scale, individuals going

 23 up to the communities, and both the social aspects as well

 24 as the major or natural aspect, ecosystems services; there

 25 is nothing like that in the document.

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 1 From the perspective, where does the value of

 2 undeveloped real estate. Usually the London School of

 3 Economies says it doesn't have a value until you cut the

 4 trees or you put a farm plot on it. Obviously it has

 5 value. I'd love to see that value in a document

 6 somewhere. Nature has to be more developed and it's

 7 getting less and less from an economic value should have

 8 more value. This region not being able to have major

 9 value. Thank you.

 10 MS. LIND: Good afternoon, my name is Gladys

 11 Lind; and I'm a third generation commercial fisherwoman on

 12 the beach, which is about 30 miles southwest of here.

 13 I've also subsistence fished my entire life. And my

 14 husband and I are raising our four children to do the

 15 same. I speak to the assessment. Thank you for providing

 16 the assessment in response to the six tribes that

 17 requested it be done.

 18 In reviewing the material my daughter copied

 19 yesterday, I saw that the EPA conducted extensive

 20 scientific research that basically supports all along what

 21 we feared would happen should a large open pit mine be

 22 allowed to go through. My only critique surrounds the

 23 portion of the assessment which is titled "fish mediated

 24 risk to indigenous culture." I want to point out that

 25 indigenous -- and the daughter of a culture for over

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 1 88 years -- I read it with great indifference, because

 2 what is lacking is how can one remain scientific and

 3 predict the effects having the main stay of our

 4 subsistence culture taken away from us? To attempt to

 5 document any predictions or produce any scientific

 6 hypothesis could not be able to describe the devastation

 7 to our way of life could not be captured in two

 8 paragraphs. I'll leave you with that. Thank you very

 9 much.

 10 MS. JENKINS-BRITO: Hi. My name is Susan

 11 Jenkins-Brito. I'm a lifelong Alaskan, a Dillingham

 12 resident, and a sports subsistence commercial fishermen.

 13 My husband is a lifelong Bristol Bay resident and third

 14 generation, and we hope our daughter follows in our

 15 footsteps. As a family who are opposed by the Pebble

 16 Mine, we want to thank the EPA for this assessment of the

 17 potential impacts that could come to subsidiary companies.

 18 We were concerned about the king salmons freely

 19 stopping being a species, and we were concerned about

 20 protecting the other four species of salmon. We need to

 21 protect our clean water sources from contamination and as

 22 well as our fresh water, salt water, and salmon stocks --

 23 or fish stocks, I'm sorry. Not to mention all the water

 24 foul in the area that rely heavily on catches to feed our

 25 family year around and commercial salmon fishing our

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 1 livelihood.

 2 Thank you to EPA for coming to Bristol Bay and

 3 for your scientific efforts to help keep Pebbles and all

 4 mines out of our precious home. There is just too many

 5 uncertainties to take this risk. Thank you.

 6 MS. LARSON: Good afternoon; and hello to Rick,

 7 it's nice to see you again. So that was nice since

 8 talking to you. I'm Dorothy B. Larson. I'm the

 9 administrator to the tribal council here in Dillingham.

 10 And we reviewed as much as we could, the assessment we've

 11 had it for a couple weeks; so I haven't gotten through

 12 every page. We hear all the time that the EPA is a pain

 13 in the butt, so I wanted you to know personally that we

 14 appreciate you being here and some of -- that you can help

 15 us with protecting our environment.

 16 I think to me the EPA main focus is the

 17 environment. It's not business, it's not money, and maybe

 18 not even government, but the environment; and we

 19 appreciate that you are experts in that. I also

 20 appreciate the research that -- new assessments. And it's

 21 pretty astonishing to see in black and white what we know

 22 what -- happen to our renewable resources if any little

 23 mishap happens at the mine. We requested that the EPA

 24 utilize their authority to enforce the 404(c) on the Clean

 25 Water Act to protect the watershed that request still

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 1 stands.

 2 I'd like to remind you that to use your authority

 3 to do so, we don't have to prove that a mishap will

 4 happen, but that if a mishap does happen, that it will

 5 cause horror to renewable resources. I believe this

 6 assessment makes it clear that even a smallest of mishap

 7 in a mining scenario will harm a renewable resources. And

 8 I also am concerned that when you talk about close mining

 9 monitoring, that you use the word potentially continue and

 10 perpetuity, I don't think that's an option, the continuing

 11 perpetuity is an absolute necessity and a must.

 12 So thank you for your time, and we do appreciate

 13 the assessment; and we're glad that you're here; and we'll

 14 see you at the pot luck at 5:00.

 15 MR. MONTECUCCO: Hi, I'm John Montecucco. I've

 16 been fishing here, I guess, for about 22 years. I guess a

 17 -- parts of the assessment that I have a little bit of

 18 emphasis that has the seismic; because like when I look I

 19 see a little in-perpetuity constitutes the old saying what

 20 goes up must come down. And in perpetuity in essentially

 21 I think look like from giant -- either it seems like, you

 22 know, that eventually there will be an earthquake and it

 23 could come very -- and it seems to me that less than

 24 50 years ago we had a 9.2 earthquake here in Alaska, and

 25 we have an active volcano here.

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 1 And I think that to be told they -- that somebody

 2 think that they can safely engineer a dam of that size

 3 here -- you know you're watching footage from, you know,

 4 the tsunami in Japan, and I think safely engineering with

 5 Mother nature is kind of difficult. And I guess you're

 6 the Environment Protection Agency, I would just ask that

 7 you protect our environment. Thanks.

 8 MR. FAITL: I'm Joseph R. Faitl. My family and I

 9 live in Dillingham. I have extended family in long --

 10 fish and mining. I prospected for gold in Wyoming and

 11 Flagstaff, and I commercial fish here in Bristol Bay.

 12 Strongly oppose Pebble Mine and any other mine in Bristol

 13 Bay, for many reasons I've already given today. I support

 14 the EPA assessment, and I also ask that you consider -- or

 15 continue to consider, if you have our cold temperatures

 16 and recovery rates of our plants, fish, water and so forth

 17 when considering mitigation measures or damages to the

 18 area.

 19 The recovery rate in Alaska, I believe, is very

 20 slow. We were at very cold temperatures, 30 below

 21 temperatures for weeks. I also was pleased to see that

 22 assessment considered rain falling on top of spring snow.

 23 It is fairly common for rain to wipe out our snow in two

 24 or three days, not just in spring, but during the winter.

 25 And if you know the rain and snow combined together can

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 1 create a risk of flood or erosion. Additionally, the

 2 facts that do matter concern that you -- getting some

 3 cherry picked facts from some of those collecting the

 4 data. I hope there is a way for you to verify that facts

 5 are objective, not cherry picked for your assessment.

 6 Finally, I thank you greatly for your assessment and

 7 coming to Dillingham.

 8 MR. McCANABLY: Hi, and thank you very much for

 9 the opportunity to speak here today. My name is Kevin

 10 McCanably. So to a lot of the owners in the region you

 11 know why I come today. I'm 26 years old, going to my

 12 ninth year or ninth season of permit holder; and I've been

 13 fishing since before it was commercialized. So I feel

 14 that not only the fish and the wildlife that depend on

 15 them, myself included, are too important to risk for any

 16 economic reason that the mine could bring.

 17 Accidental discharge of processed chemicals and

 18 byproducts and acid mine leaks are realistic concerns.

 19 Mining has an approximate important environmental track

 20 record according to USPA of contaminated waters of 40

 21 waters of western continental U.S. and 500,000 abandoned

 22 mines in 32 states that can cost tens of billions of

 23 dollars according to Earthworks. A recent study of 25

 24 modern large rock compared water volume with environmental

 25 impact statements predictions from the permitting stage,

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 1 and 76 percent of those 1,925 exceeded water fall and

 2 released either surface or ground water. And community

 3 worker safety public health and environment problem that

 4 is mining on races south gone other in the U.S. down from

 5 of Canada -- they also already been a permit progress and

 6 have 45 land and water use violations.

 7 And in closing, I kind of had another mine in

 8 mind where they had failures, where it leaked into the

 9 river and up 250,000 lives from one of 120 down stream of

 10 the mine has been affected and all the leak for livelihood

 11 far out weigh the risks in the area.

 12 I really appreciate your time. And seriously I

 13 do understand that the State of Alaska really is looking

 14 to, you know, keep the government, the Feds out of this --

 15 this decision-making; but the State of Alaska and the

 16 Alaska day-to-day of resources repeatedly violates section

 17 8 of Alaska -- issue with specifically provide of leases

 18 of state land were prescribe public notice of safe --

 19 permitting is, in my mind, effective because it has

 20 sufficiently rigorous determine that issue of permit will

 21 best as demonstrated by on by the a lack of received

 22 served as an input.

 23 MS. ALAKAYAK: (Speaking Native tongue.)

 24 (Indiscernible speaker.) That's my name, my -- I survive.

 25 My great-great grandma survived from starvation. Sockeye

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 1 salmon is needed to survive. And then I thank you guys

 2 for coming here and supporting our effort to keep our

 3 waters clean here in Bristol Bay. Here we have our

 4 subsistence lifestyle. We eat the food, fish all the

 5 animals in the -- on the land. And we set the mouth and

 6 help to feed the rest of the human population out on the

 7 earth here on this globe.

 8 And I appreciate the assessment that you bring

 9 here. And the one word that stands out when I see the

 10 assessment is the word "forever." You know you bring us

 11 your scientific research. We read that and we -- we have

 12 to give -- what -- what -- what happens as the process

 13 goes in this -- this evolution? Here the earth -- if

 14 we're feeding the moose on the earth, as are salmon, just

 15 through the cracks if the mine drainage with all of the

 16 elements, the raising of the flood poisoning the water,

 17 that means we're going to be poisoning the rest of the

 18 people on the earth. And here our human rights are

 19 recognized as tribal state United States citizen Americans

 20 and the UN recognizes us as well. So thank you.

 21 MR. MOORE: Hi, I'm Ah-by-you Moore; I'm from

 22 Dillingham. I'm a lifelong resident, I'm 28. This

 23 happens all the time. I love Dillingham and call it home,

 24 because I love it here. And I came to realize exactly how

 25 much I love it here. Talk about this strike of -- it was

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 1 like my life flashed before my eyes. I'm an artist, so I

 2 came home and I started painting murals around here is

 3 what I did. This issue is particularly important to my

 4 generation, because we share -- shared resources in the

 5 region -- how able to appear.

 6 We share the clean water and everything like

 7 moose, caribou, and salmon that live because of the clean

 8 water. I was just watching the Mystery Channel the other

 9 day, that severe water shortages around the world in 50

 10 years. This is about the time that Pebble will be done

 11 mining and when the world will desperately need clean

 12 drinking water. We utilize the food and water here

 13 perhaps it will still be edible in 50 years. Lets face

 14 it, without clean water, our chances to live our

 15 subsistence lifestyle are slim.

 16 Like the salmon, I plan on spawning out here in

 17 Bristol Bay. My daughter will be raised eating

 18 subsistence food, she's four months and I'm feeding her

 19 dried beef. Please protect our lifestyle and our culture.

 20 Thanks.

 21 MS. ROEHL: My name is RaeAnn Roehl. I love

 22 Bristol Bay; because ever since I can remember, my fresh

 23 -- my home, my whole family has been subsistence fishers.

 24 So that could possibly pollute Bristol Bay making this

 25 planet -- because my family and so many others have been

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 1 reliant for food and money. Pollution of the water won't

 2 just affect the animals in Bristol Bay, but it will affect

 3 all wildlife that eats and drinks from the bay. And

 4 please use the 404(c) authority to protect Bristol Bay and

 5 my future. Thank you.

 6 MS. MOWER: Hello, my name is Katrina Mower; and

 7 I'm Crystal Nixon's daughter. We eat a lot of fish in the

 8 family and lots of fish at the house. I think that the

 9 fish we enjoy at our house and the water we drink will

 10 probably be polluted. It breaks my heart, because fishing

 11 with my family is one of the great times I enjoy. And a

 12 big reason why I -- I know that all my family members love

 13 to teach me and my siblings to fish. I would like to do

 14 -- I would like to do the same with my kids and grandkids.

 15 If this Pebble Mine goes around, could -- never

 16 be able to fish the same way as we do now. I'm sure that

 17 people going along with this will try not to pollute our

 18 fish, but it's very, very sure they can't. So please help

 19 stop Pebble Mine. Thank you.

 20 MS. SORENSEN: My name is Chenita Sorensen. Ever

 21 since I was a little girl I have been fishing with my

 22 Grandpa Pat. The smell of fish brings to my memory of

 23 when I think of Pebble Mine. I with -- worry this

 24 happening would be a risk of pollution in the water

 25 culture in many ways. Fish is a huge resource and --

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 1 throughout Alaska. If you think of the children and what

 2 they will do when they are all older and generations to

 3 come. Please stop the Pebble Mine and use your 404(c)

 4 authority to protect Bristol Bay and my future.

 5 MS. NIXON-LUCKHURST: Hi, thank you for being

 6 here today. As she said, my name is Crystal

 7 Nixon-Luckhurst. I grew up in Dillingham; and subsistence

 8 is a major part of my life while growing up, and it

 9 continues to be today. Throughout the year we might fish

 10 and gather from the land. The majority of my food in my

 11 house is the fish, it's frozen, canned, salted or smoked.

 12 Salmon is important to me culturally and spiritually. I

 13 prepare fish for my mom and my grandmother and my aunties;

 14 and we're all teaching my children how to prepare fish,

 15 and they're ages 2 to 13.

 16 Besides fish, we are very active with other

 17 subsistence food from this home. When I grew, I looked in

 18 the freezer you would find blueberries, red berries

 19 blackberries, huckleberries, chicken, duck, goose, smelts

 20 wild greens, and if we're lucky, a moose and caribou,

 21 along with king salmon, red silver, and my favorite is dog

 22 salmon. I will believe that proposed Pebble Mine would

 23 hurt our subsistence way of life. And it would directly

 24 hurt my family and our future generations of the people of

 25 Bristol Bay. And it would -- it would literally kill our

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 1 way of life here. So please use your 404(c) authority to

 2 protect our Bristol Bay and our families. Thank you.

 3 MS. LARSON: Hello. I would like to first

 4 welcome the EPA to Bristol Bay, and thank you for this

 5 opportunity to speak. My name is Delores Larson; I'm an

 6 Eskimo. I was born here in Dillingham and raised in the

 7 Native village. I am the environmental coordinator,

 8 village council and also proud to say that I'm a

 9 commercial fisher woman and lifelong subsistence user.

 10 Curley [phonetic] is located on the left bank furthest

 11 village of the river. Curley has about 300 tribal

 12 members, and with a population of approximately 210.

 13 With that said, I would like to thank the EPA for

 14 doing the Briston Bay Watershed Assessment. We have been

 15 concerned with the Pebble for many years and asking the

 16 EPA to please use your authority under section 404(c) of

 17 the Clean Water Act to protect our watershed and

 18 everything that goes with it. This includes the very air

 19 that we breathe; our pristine water; the land that we live

 20 off of; and most importantly, the Fish and Wildlife; and

 21 ultimately human health.

 22 I consider myself a rich Native resident, but not

 23 because of money and -- but of the food in my freezer; the

 24 food that comes from my land; the food that comes with

 25 every season all year long; whether it's salmon, wild

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 1 plants; berries in the summer; moose, pike, whitefish in

 2 the fall; caribou, geese, and ducks in the spring. You

 3 name it, we eat it. Our Fish and Wildlife are not only

 4 fresh and abundant, but also very lean and healthy. I

 5 truly believe that the proposed Pebble Mine, the

 6 traditional Native subsistence lifestyle, a lifestyle that

 7 flourished for nearly 10,000 years.

 8 Bristol Bay supplies the largest wild salmon fish

 9 left on earth. Already there are concerns about mining

 10 exclusions going on, we were noticing a change in our

 11 caribou that usually come straight through or near my

 12 community. We have also noticed in our -- very concerned

 13 with fresh water, fish like our pike and whitefish. I'm

 14 not certain that these are results from the mining

 15 exclusions but certainly will not help it. From the

 16 watershed assessment, EPA find that even if the proposed

 17 Pebble Mine would run time still have an effect on our

 18 salmon habitant and in passing our culture and our way of

 19 life, primarily food sources and long term subsistence

 20 economy they are too great for the Native people of this

 21 land.

 22 I speak on behalf of my family and community in

 23 Bristol Bay, And for future generations will not have the

 24 best of both worlds that is the money and jobs that come

 25 from mining, and in the salmon and wildlife that coming

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 1 from the very land. I mean no disrespect, but it is

 2 common sense that mining and salmon cannot co-exist. I

 3 choose salmon, I choose Bristol Bay; it is time for EPA to

 4 take action under section 404(c). Thank you.

 5 MR. JOHNSON: Thank you. My name is Fritz

 6 Johnson; I live in Dillingham. Bristol Bay became my home

 7 when I became a commercial fishermen, I've been here ever

 8 since. I don't have any recommendation for modifying the

 9 science of the watershed assessment. I want to thank you

 10 for documenting what the people here are confirming, that

 11 Bristol Bay is a natural treasure that needs your

 12 protection.

 13 You're all aware, I'm on both coasts of North

 14 America less than a hundred years ago, specifically

 15 northwest in California, commercial salmon fishing there

 16 described as producing money and fish like rain. Those

 17 are not existing anymore. They weren't -- just a shadow

 18 that they used to be. And they weren't doing it on

 19 purpose but population growth development.

 20 In Bristol Bay -- telling you experience it's

 21 difficult to comprehend what right described salmon runs

 22 here -- biblical hoards. It's the last on the planet and

 23 the protection of places like this is -- is the very

 24 reason that the Environmental Protection Agency exists.

 25 Please hear our voices and let the science guide you.

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 1 Political pressure call as such serve the sciences and it

 2 won't serve your mission. Thank you.

 3 MS. SEITZ: Good afternoon. Timing is

 4 everything. Thank you so much for the opportunity to

 5 comment on your assessment of the potential mining in

 6 Bristol Bay. I'm Jody Seitz, I'm the planning director of

 7 the City of Dillingham. I was asked to testify on behalf

 8 of the City of Dillingham. The Dillingham City Council

 9 have showed repeatedly that they are in favor of

 10 protecting the resources of Bristol Bay and is evidently

 11 opposed to offshore oil exploration as well as large scale

 12 mining in Bristol Bay. That's specifically the Pebble

 13 Mine.

 14 The EPA review of drafts are very consistent with

 15 recently opposed large scale mining first in 2006.

 16 Resolution 2006-201 is about how Dillingham depends on

 17 serving as a major hub and import for the world's largest

 18 salmon fishery. And on the commercial wild salmon fishery

 19 has been the backbone of many people's livelihoods and

 20 subsistence for many generations. There are 297

 21 commercial in the world watersheds here in watershed of

 22 those 156 drift, 112 near Dillingham. Multiply that by

 23 three, that's the number of jobs created.

 24 You can see that Dillingham hosts one of the last

 25 working fisheries in the nation. When driving through

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 1 town you see fishing boats in people's yards, nets being

 2 hung, the BA boatyard, the protected harbor in Bristol

 3 Bay, processing plants, trucks full of fish boxes out to

 4 the airport, the airport -- air cargo planes are

 5 frequently flying out. Fish nets and subsistence signs on

 6 the beaches now for the king salmon run to arrive.

 7 We post no -- that benefit the fisheries, and the

 8 fisheries require pristine water for the survival of fish

 9 and everything that's connected to them. As the sign

 10 says, crystal waters communities as well as people in the

 11 area depends on wells for fresh water. The cities of

 12 large scale mining recognizes other large scale spawning,

 13 the other species are susceptible to earthquakes. Thank

 14 you for validating the other risks posed by the mining

 15 discussed, as well as looking at the consequences over of

 16 the mine. This city offered to staff and air $7,000,000

 17 -- it spent 82 million the deferred products 38 needed

 18 just to mix light on safety problems with our own -- fail

 19 equipment. You think be last oppose mining it opposed

 20 large scale mining when though 201 it banned any funds the

 21 Pebble fund due relationship the pearl partnership.

 22 The council is protecting the urban living and

 23 the salmon fisheries. The best option for survival for

 24 our community long after peak oil, copper and gold run

 25 out. Thank you. I'll submit industry resolutions for

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 1 your record.

 2 MS. BENNS: Wassilliisia Benns. I'm here to

 3 represent my family members. I was born and raised here

 4 in Dillingham. I'm a subsistence user first and foremost.

 5 My family will be fishing both for commercial and

 6 subsistence. We hunt for moose, caribou, and birds. I

 7 also harvest berries and plants. It breaks my heart to

 8 think my grandchildren's children may not be able to do

 9 the same thing and have the great resource we have in

 10 Bristol Bay. I practice and I teach my children and

 11 grandchildren how to process fish. We smoke, we salt, we

 12 can, and we freeze. We pick berries. We have black,

 13 blue, red berries that we all pick together. And we also

 14 process as a fundamentally moose, caribou, and birds.

 15 The life -- the lifestyle we have here in Bristol

 16 Bay has taught my family to be productive citizens,

 17 commercial fishing, working as a family or to work all

 18 together. All my family members, including my brothers

 19 and sisters, live here in Dillingham. We grew up eating

 20 fish, and we will die eating fish. And -- and we'll

 21 continue to live off the land. Please protect our

 22 resources. Thank you for taking time out. And I don't

 23 see -- end of day, but I wanted to share with you some of

 24 what my family does every summer. So thank you.

 25 MR. WASSILY: Hi, good morning; I'm Danny

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 1 Wassily. I'm a commercial fishermen and subsistence user.

 2 I love subsistence, I love to hunt, I love to put up fish,

 3 I love to hunt moose and caribou, I love to pick berries.

 4 I'm against the Pebble Mine; I like you guys to join them.

 5 The watershed is a very important part of life, it does

 6 feed the fish, it brings fish back to spawn and bring the

 7 small fish and also to the birds and the life of animals.

 8 To take away the water we have nothing.

 9 The water in front of you right now -- like my

 10 brother said, it may run just for a two, it could run from

 11 10 to 20 bucks. You take away our water we're going to

 12 have nothing; we're going to starve. We're going to have

 13 nothing to drink but this toxic waste. And we build that

 14 dam in the winters to come all that snow and water it

 15 melts, that's going to overflow and bust; and it will

 16 contaminate the whole Alaska, all the rivers. Like I

 17 said, it will kill everything that's right now. You see

 18 the pictures of what they're doing and the holes they dug.

 19 I guarantee all the animals will have to move

 20 away from here. You go to all the holes they dug, they

 21 dug nearly 600 holes, I heard maybe 12 -- 12 holes. I

 22 guarantee you I know the Pebbles eventually as of -- I

 23 thank you for your time.

 24 MS. MUIR: Thank you for doing the Briston Bay

 25 Watershed Assessment. And thank you for coming to

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 1 Dillingham. My name is Rachel Muir. I'm a practitioner

 2 in the -- here. I'm a 20-year resident of Dillingham.

 3 I'm representing myself and my experience here in Bristol

 4 Bay, and I'm on leave time right now. The people of

 5 Bristol Bay have supported themselves on the land and

 6 water for thousand of years through subsistence and

 7 commercial fishing, and this community in balance. In the

 8 watershed assessment it states that 46 percent of the

 9 world's sockeye salmon comes from Bristol Bay. So

 10 technically the people of Bristol Bay have been supporting

 11 themselves for thousands of years so the people of the

 12 world can afford to buy wild salmon for hundreds of years.

 13 From my perspective, the last hundred years

 14 compensation by agencies in the state. Social -- of the

 15 new change, just purification is much stronger, as already

 16 incurred -- it seems absolutely unethical to allow

 17 corporation intervention to divide the people of Bristol

 18 Bay. Over a 20 -- over a 40- to 70-year stretch, rare

 19 metal resource extraction and -- in the regions rich and

 20 balanced ecosystem recognize their strength and our EPA a

 21 survival by taking action -- clean water action section,

 22 404(c).

 23 Thank you for standing up risk assessment,

 24 understanding benefits of clean water, and for listening

 25 today. Please use your authority to protect this corner

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 1 of the world with 404(c) section of the Clean Water Act

 2 you are supporting here by the people of Bristol Bay.

 3 MS. MERAZ: My name is Colette Meraz; I live in

 4 Dillingham. I am the daughter of Carrie Barnes. I spent

 5 most of my childhood with my grandparents, Daisy Barnes

 6 and the late Harley Barnes Sr. I come from a family of

 7 commercial fishermen. I spent my time at fish camp or on

 8 my grandfather's boat, and I have many wonderful memories

 9 fishing and gathering subsistence foods. I am now married

 10 and have three wonderful children. Sunshine was 11;

 11 Aubrina was three; and Wakey, who is one. And every year

 12 we freeze, smoke, salt, and can fish. We do this because

 13 this is who we are.

 14 My children know how rich our future is from the

 15 net. They help process the fish and store it for the

 16 winter months. This way of life was passed down to me

 17 from my mother and my grandparents. And I am passing my

 18 way of life to my children. And the thought of my

 19 children not being able to pass our way of life to their

 20 children makes my heart hurt. I come to you today for my

 21 children and my grandchildren's way of life to continue to

 22 be passed on to the future generations. Please protect

 23 our water. Thank you.

 24 MR. SMALL: [Indiscernible speaker.] Hi, my name

 25 is Stan Small. I live in Dillingham. My wife and six

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 1 kids and six grandchildren. And the one thing that they

 2 forget to say about the little bit of fishing tributaries

 3 of that -- the title folks goes all the way up to passed

 4 -- up the new -- up the -- all away -- everything coming

 5 out of this bay may go -- these different tributaries.

 6 Outside the fish travel down there like the trade they

 7 don't swim against the tide, they come back up -- tide

 8 come with them. All the toxins would go right along with

 9 them with the ice and the ice breaking them up -- dirt

 10 into the mud it thickens, moves the mud on down pretty big

 11 -- sandbar across the bay here or come here the next year

 12 pick up, disappear, move down the bay some place else.

 13 So it's not just -- just the one place, it's all

 14 these other -- these other mining concerns are waiting for

 15 you to pass this one. So they can set more mining Bristol

 16 Bay. It is by -- guys said it was already -- so why don't

 17 you. So this isn't just one little thing or do this one

 18 thing and try this is a whole of Bristol Bay and that

 19 after they -- they sell this thing off, then the big guy

 20 takes the big bucks, all the flex guy who has a couple of

 21 dollars less and sells to the next guy who dime --

 22 collapse or somebody owns that 50 cent pocket shoot -- fix

 23 that sorry bankrupt; and that's how it goes.

 24 It'll go right on down. The big guy wrote sets

 25 that I'm going to cover my bill, I'm -- pay my way, before

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 1 it ever gets to where it's that bad. A hundred years from

 2 now we're all gone in affect us Pebble Mine told me you

 3 don't have to worry about stand, because by the year 2020

 4 is building the dam. And my kids won't get to fish but

 5 you won't have to worry about it, stand. But I worry

 6 about my kids I said what about my kids whether or not get

 7 a job working an the mine. Yeah, okay. Thank you very

 8 much. Thank you very much for thinking about this and

 9 doing this before something happens. Why wait till later?

 10 MR. LIBOFT: Hi, my name is Jerry Liboft. I am a

 11 45-year resident of Bristol Bay, and I fished all of these

 12 years. Thanks for endorsing the 404(c) and for setting

 13 the issues, and I really appreciate it. My concerns

 14 outline your draft assessment at two levels of

 15 uncertainty. The first level of uncertainty is the

 16 uncertainty the inconclusiveness of the existing knowledge

 17 that we have in the ecology region. We still don't know

 18 -- very little of the geology, biology, seismology, and

 19 their interactions in the sensitive area that we call

 20 Bristol Bay. We need science and setting up the area

 21 before we risk large scale mining.

 22 My second level of concern on the uncertainty is

 23 the extent of our ability to quantify and effectively

 24 mitigate potential failing on operation and closures of

 25 mines the size of the Pebble. Experts have proved the

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 1 operations were three times in the last couple of years.

 2 We were told that they somehow leaked; and they said it

 3 never happen, and if it did, it could be effectively

 4 vague; that the experts were wrong on both counts. We

 5 were told the same thing for The Gulf of Mexico in 2010.

 6 The largest oil spill in northern American history, the

 7 experts said it wouldn't happen, they were wrong.

 8 And finally, last year the earthquake and Tsunami

 9 in Japan, it caused a meltdown of the reactor; the results

 10 of which were not predicted it couldn't happen, yet it

 11 did. Japan lived with the consequences for generations.

 12 I think the known and unknown risks outlined in your

 13 document lead me to say, "Invoke the 404(c) and stop big

 14 mining now." Until you can be assured, really assured,

 15 that nothing will go wrong. President Obama said last

 16 year in closing offshore oil rigs, mentioned Bristol Bay

 17 and mentioned it is a treasure that we can be -- risk, the

 18 same applies to large scale mining. Thanks for your time

 19 and concern.

 20 MS. DUNLAP: Hi, my name is Heidi Dunlap; and I'm

 21 a second generation commercial fishermen. I've been

 22 harvesting salmon here in Bristol Bay for 19 years. This

 23 is been my only job. Catching fish, processing fish or

 24 selling fish, particularly salmon. I strongly -- I

 25 strongly oppose Pebble Mine. Our salmon needs clean water

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 1 to exist and prosper. I would like to propose the idea

 2 that Bristol Bay salmon could quite possibly be the

 3 largest most sustainable wild food base resource in the

 4 world. Why risk something so great?

 5 If our salmon stopped returning for some other

 6 reason, then maybe we could consider extracting these

 7 resources. In another hundred years these minerals will

 8 still be here, and my bet is that the industry will have a

 9 better method of extraction by then. Thank you for being

 10 here, thank you for doing this assessment. I support and

 11 agree on most aspects of it. However, with the final

 12 assessment I would like to see more research and emphasis

 13 put to seismic activity of the area and it's potential

 14 impacts on a massive mine and an ecological and sensitive

 15 environment. I also think the comment period should not

 16 be extended. This process does not need to be further

 17 postponed. Please initiate 404(c) of the Clean Water Act

 18 to protect Bristol Bay, its watershed, and its people.

 19 Thank you.

 20

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 1 CERTIFICATE

 2

 3 I, BROOKLENDE D. LEAVITT, notary public for

 4 the State of Alaska, and Certified Shorthand Reporter, do

 5 hereby certify that the foregoing proceedings were taken

 6 before me at the time and place herein set forth; that the

 7 witness was sworn to tell the truth; that the proceedings

 8 were reported stenographically by me and later transcribed

 9 by computer transcription; that the foregoing is a true

 10 record of the proceedings taken at that time; and that I

 11 am not a party to, nor do I have any interest in, the

 12 outcome of the action herein contained.

 13 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my

 14 hand and affixed my seal this 3rd day of July, 2012.

 15

 16

 17

 18 _______________________________

 19 Brooklende D. Leavitt

 20 Notary Public, State of Alaska

 21 My commission expires: 1/30/2016

 22

 23

 24

 25

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