Despite widespread opposition from Alaskans, Governor Frank Murkowski is once again trying to lift the ban on toxic pollution in Alaska?s salmon and other fish-bearing streams and spawning areas by allowing mixing zones. Mixing zones are ?sacrifice zones? where water and habitat quality fail to meet state water quality standards. In a nutshell they allow polluting industries, such as mining companies, to discharge their contaminated wastewater into fish streams by relying on the long-discounted notion that the solution to pollution is dilution.

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) is currently accepting comments on the newest proposal to roll back the existing ban on mixing zones, weaken fish protections, and fail to protect water quality. ADEC says that it is responding to public comments to a similar proposal put forth in 2004 with a more protective proposal ? a misleading statement because it simply repackaged last year?s controversial draft regulations.

What you can do:

Alaskans submitted over 600 comment letters in 2004 in opposition to ADEC?s previous mixing zone proposal. ADEC will NOT include comments submitted in 2004 as part of this new proposal so we once again need a few minutes of your time to tell ADEC that mixing zones would harm our fish and clean water and are therefore unacceptable. Make your voice heard!

Comment deadline: 5:00 p.m., December 19, 2005

Send your written comments to:

Nancy Sonafrank, ADEC                                             
610 University Drive      
Fairbanks, AK  99709                                         
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

If you can?t do anything else, sign an on-line petition here. Signing this petition will add weight to the message that Alaskans don?t want toxic pollution in their fish streams.

• Mixing Zones Hurt Fish Habitat. Mixing zones in fish-bearing streams are contrary to the fish protection goals of the Clean Water Act. The Clean Water Act requires that water quality standards protect fish by maintaining and enhancing existing water quality. Mixing zones in salmon streams would degrade fish habitat.
• Loophole Sidesteps Fish Protection. Even though ADEC claims that mixing zone applications must pass a 19-part test before approval, the state has unlimited discretion to grant permits to applications that fail the 19-part test if the applicants submit ?mitigation plans? to ADEC. Allowing corporations or municipalities to upgrade habitat somewhere else while degrading salmon streams harms Alaska?s wild salmon and other fish.
• Vague Guidelines Don?t Protect Fish. The proposal leaves key terms undefined, such as ?economically feasible,? ?overall biological integrity,? and ?objectionable deposits.? This lack of clarity gives ADEC complete discretion to interpret and implement the regulations however it wants.
• Lack of Resources for Enforcement. There are over 15,000 spawning streams in Alaska that support important commercial, sport, and subsistence fisheries. ADEC lacks the personnel and resources necessary to assess mixing zone permits, enforce permit terms, and analyze projects over time. As a result, the agency will be unable to adequately protect fish and fish habitat.                      
  

Why else should we be concerned? The Alaska seafood industry enjoys a considerable marketing edge because people value wild Alaska salmon that live from hatching to harvest in pristine, unpolluted waters. Any perception that the state is reducing its world-renowned level of salmon protection, or polluting our waters, could seriously jeopardize the health of our fishing industries.

ADEC says some communities that received permits before the current ban on mixing zones in fish streams need mixing zones to dispose of their waste. Instead of dragging the whole state backwards to allow more pollution in our streams, ADEC could take a step forward and work with those municipalities to design temporary, site-specific variances that would eventually phase out the need for mixing zones entirely.

View the proposed ADEC regulations here. 

View a list of  frequently asked questions and answers about this proposal here. 

View additional talking points for writing you action letter here.