Latest news with #Edgmon
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
New bill would prohibit hard-rock metals mining in Alaska's Bristol Bay watershed
Braided wetlands and tundra in the Bristol Bay watershed are seen from the air on July 26, 2010. Seen here is Upper Talarik Creek, which flows into Lake Iliamna and then the Kvichak River before emptying into Bristol Bay. A new bill introduced on the last day of the Alaska Legislature's 2025 session would bar hard-rock metals mining in the Bristol Bay watershed. (Photo provided by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) Mere hours before he banged his gavel to adjourn this year's session of the Alaska House of Representatives, Speaker Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, introduced a bill to bar metals mining from the Bristol Bay watershed. The measure, House Bill 233, would expand on the Environmental Protection Agency's 2023 decision prohibiting permitting of the controversial Pebble Project in the region. The Biden administration action, which followed up on a process started in the Obama administration, invoked a rarely used provision on the Clean Water Act to prevent development of the huge open-pit copper and gold mine planned for the region upstream from salmon-rich Bristol Bay. Edgmon's bill would ban all metallic sulfide mining in the area designated as the Bristol Bay Fisheries Reserve, which encompasses state land in the Bristol Bay watershed. Metallic sulfide mining, also known as hard-rock mining, is the type of mining that extracts elements like gold and copper from acid-generating rocks classified as sulfides. When these sulfides are processed, they commonly cause acid to drain out. It is a method distinct from placer mining, which sifts out metals from loose sediments. The copper and gold that would be produced at the Pebble project is held in sulfide ore and would be extracted through hard-rock mining. The Bristol Bay Fisheries Reserve was established by the Legislature in 1972 to prevent oil and gas development in the region. The effort was led by Jay Hammond, who was president of the state Senate at the time. He later became governor. Under House Bill 223, the Hammond-championed prohibitions on petroleum development would be expanded to mining. The justifications for the 1972 action 'also warrant new protections to prevent hardrock mining activities that would risk polluting the region's river systems, ground water, aquifer systems,' as well as any drainages that connect to Bristol Bay's surface water, the bill's text says. Edgmon is from the Bristol Bay region. The bill will be considered next year, along with other measures still pending in the 34th Legislature. Alannah Hurley, executive director of a consortium of Native tribal governments in the Bristol Bay region, said the bill would provide extra protection for EPA's action. That protection is needed because of 'the uncertainty that we're continuing to face' from litigation pressed by Pebble's sponsors, Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. and the Pebble Limited Partnership it owns, said Hurley, who is with United Tribes of Bristol Bay, an organization that has long opposed the Pebble project. Northern Dynasty and the Pebble Limited Partnership have sued to overturn the 2023 EPA determination, and the case remains active. The state of Alaska, at the direction of Gov. Mike Dunleavy, has also sued the federal government over the action. Hurley said that beyond upholding the EPA determination, the bill would prevent the development of other metals mines in the region, Hurley said. There are about 20 active claims that could be developed into large metals mines, though not as large as the proposed Pebble project, she said. If the bill passes, 'we wouldn't have to face 20 other mining claims piecemeal over who knows how many decades,' she said. While the bill is new, the effort behind it goes back a long time, Hurley said. 'This is something the tribes have been talking about for years. We need the EPA protection, but we also need legislation to really protect the watershed,' she said. A legislative effort similar to House Bill 233 was mounted on the federal level by former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska. She introduced the Bristol Bay Protection Act a year ago to codify the EPA's Clean Water Act determination barring a Pebble-type mine from being permitted in the Bristol Bay watershed. The act died in committee, and Peltola lost her seat in November to current Rep. Nick Begich, R-Alaska. The tribes and other Pebble opponents have thus turned their attention to the Legislature now that Peltola is no longer in the U.S. House, Hurley said. 'The fact that she wasn't reelected has frustrated expectations that we can make any progress with Congress,' Hurley said. There have been previous efforts in the Alaska Legislature, as well. In 2015, Rep. Andy Josephson, D-Anchorage, introduced a measure, House Bill 119, that would require legislative approval for any large-scale metallic sulfide mine in the Bristol Bay Fisheries Reserve. It failed to reach the House floor. Josephson introduced a similar bill, House Bill 14, in 2017. It also died in committee. Josephson is a co-sponsor of Edgmon's new bill. Representatives of Northern Dynasty and the Pebble Limited Partnership were not available to comment on the new bill. Dunleavy, who has been supportive of the Pebble project, has not taken a position, said his spokesperson, Jeff Turner. The bill was just introduced, so the governor has not had time to review it, Turner said. 'As a general rule, the Governor's office does not comment on legislation until it has passed and been transmitted to his office,' he said by email. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Alaska lawmakers are divided over state budget, stuck without agreement over dividend, schools
Alaska House Speaker Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, speaks at a House majority news conference, April 8, 2025, in the Alaska State Capitol in Juneau. Rep. Chuck Kopp, R-Anchorage; Rep. Andy Josephson, D-Anchorage; Edgmon; and Rep. Louise Stutes, R-Kodiak, are seated left to right. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon) As Alaska faces economic shocks from a tumbling stock market and an unstable oil market, leaders of the state House of Representatives are appealing to minority-caucus members and Gov. Mike Dunleavy to help balance the budget. 'Ladies and gentlemen, we're all in a pickle,' House Speaker Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham said in a news conference on Tuesday. 'It's not just the House majority: It's the House minority; it's the governor; it's the Senate majority; it's the Senate minority. We all own the situation in front of us.' The House Finance Committee passed a budget on Thursday that includes $1.9 billion more in spending for the 12 months that begin in July than the state is forecast to raise. But Edgmon said that committee would continue to work on the bill to try to bring it into balance, as required by state law. Edgmon, I-Dillingham, noted that the budget faces several challenges, including oil prices dropping over the past week. And he said the 21-19 split in the House meant that any one member has a veto power to block legislation. The House majority consists of 14 Democrats, five independents and two Republicans, while the minority has 19 Republicans. 'We need to work together,' Edgmon said of the House minority, before addressing the governor's office: 'Please step up. Work with us. We'll get through this. But if you leave us to our own designs, we are going to be stuck in this morass that unfortunately will carry forward into what none of us want: And that's a special session.' Two majority finance committee members — Rep. Neal Foster, D-Nome, and Nellie Unangiq Jimmie, D-Bethel — support Permanent Fund dividends at the level set under the formula in current law, which would be around $3,800 per resident and cost $2.46 billion. That size would make a balanced budget impossible without new taxes or significant draws from savings. The value of the Alaska Permanent Fund fell by $3.2 billion, and Alaska North Slope oil fell from $76 per barrel to $65, in the days after President Donald Trump announced new tariffs. Before the majority news conference, the House minority held one of their own. Finance committee members Rep. DeLena Johnson, R-Palmer, and Will Stapp, R-Fairbanks, both said the draft budget must be reduced. They raised the possibility of reexamining any new programs or positions that were added in the current budget, which started last July, or were proposed in the draft budget, including a hotly debated education funding increase. 'It's hard work,' Johnson. 'It's drudgery. … It's not one of those things you approach with a lot of excitement. You have to approach that with a lot of work.' Stapp questioned the affordability of the proposed increase in the funding per student in public education. House Bill 69 includes a $1,000 per student increase in the base student allocation, the core of the state's funding formula. For the next school year, that BSA increase would equal $253 million. 'Ultimately, you're going to have to take the education funding level and say, you want to prioritize education, but you probably can't do a $1,000 BSA,' Stapp said. He said the increase should look more like the one-time boost in state funding for the current school year, which was $680 per student. In terms of the total budget, that education funding increase was $174 million, compared with the $253 million in the draft proposal. In the majority news conference, leaders of that caucus took a different view. Majority Leader Chuck Kopp, R-Anchorage, said legislators shouldn't even be raising the possibility of a Permanent Fund dividend using the formula in current law. 'I ran and campaigned on a balanced budget,' Kopp said, adding that he would have joined the other caucus if it agreed to a balanced budget and what he described as 'the dividend we can afford.' Kopp also emphasized that the majority is not proposing paying for a larger dividend with legislation to increase taxes or other revenue. He rejected increasing oil taxes, saying that the industry is still rebounding from the COVID-19 pandemic and he doesn't want to discourage investment in future development. Finance committee co-chair Andy Josephson, D-Anchorage, said the draft budget includes some growth driven by necessity. As an example, he cited funding for child advocacy centers to interview children who have been sexually abused. And he noted that most of the increase in the budget was proposed by Dunleavy, with additions for public employee contract increases. Josephson described the education funding increase as a 'core principle.' 'We heard from scores of Anchorage citizens about the importance of that, and we have their back,' he said. 'Come hell or high water, we're going to stand for that principle.' The legislative session is scheduled to end by May 21. Special sessions have been called in 2017 and 2021 to avoid partial state government shutdowns, which would occur if there isn't a budget enacted by June 30. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Top Alaska House legislators reject plan to allow fish farms
Rep. Louise Stutes, R-Kodiak, and House Speaker Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, listen to information on Jan. 9, 2025, at an Anchorage hearing of the Joint Legislative Task Force Evaluating Alaska's Seafood Industry. Stutes and Edgmon are two of the task force's eight members. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon) Two leading members of the Alaska House of Representatives on Monday announced their opposition to a proposal from Gov. Mike Dunleavy to lift the state's 35-year-old ban on fish farms. In a written statement, Speaker of the House Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, and House Rules Committee Chair Louise Stutes, R-Kodiak, said the bill will not aid the state's commercial fishing industry. Stutes also chairs the House Fisheries Committee, and Edgmon is the committee's vice chair; without their support, House Bill 111 is unlikely to advance. Dunleavy has proposed keeping a ban on salmon farming but is seeking permission for farming other types of fish. Alaska has banned all types of fish farming for decades under the belief that allowing farming poses social and environmental risks to the state's wild fish. 'Alaska's commercial fishing industry, our coastal communities, and fishing families across the state are suffering through historically poor market conditions, inconsistent returns, and unfair trade practices,' Stutes and Edgmon wrote. 'Make no mistake, the industry will recover; however, lifting a ban on freshwater finfish farming sends the wrong signal, at the wrong time. It also erodes the spirit of the current ban and provides a foot in the door for possible salmon farming in Alaska,' they said. 'We need to be focusing on solutions for our fisheries that positively impact our industry, market conditions, and the bottom line for our fishermen, not legislation that distracts from that.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
