Army Corps opens public comment period on IPOP project

On Friday, July 31 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers gave public notice that the agency takes public comment on the IPOP LLC proposal to mine for gold in the Bonanza Channel/Safety Sound.
“The applicant proposes to discharge 4,973,992 cubic yards of material into 172.7 acres of waters of the U.S. over 5 years to construct and maintain an access channel, dredge disposal areas, mining channel, and a mine camp and staging area in approximately 4 acres of uplands,” reads the project summary in the public notice. IPOP proposes to dredge a channel to the mining site, place the dredged material into four dredge disposal areas impacting about 64 acres and to mine nearly 22 acres per year in Bonanza Channel. IPOP proposed a five-year mining plan. The entity, formed for the Bonanza Channel mining operation, has no track record of mining in Alaska.
The Corps is the federal agency tasked to administer part of the Clean Water Act with the mission to balance reasonable development with environmental protection of wetlands and other aquatic resources, said the Corps’ Project Manager Leslie Tose in an email to the Nugget.
She summarized IPOP’s project saying that it consists of four parts:  an access channel, four dredge disposal areas, a mining channel, and a camp and staging area. “It is proposed to be a seasonal summer/fall mining operation (June 1 to November 1) within the waters of the Bonanza Channel/ Safety Sound.  During the winter, core drilling (exploration) would occur, once the channel and lagoon have frozen solid.  Permits for exploration have been issued.  IPOP, LLC states that the project would last 10 years.  They want to be able to mine anywhere in their claims, in any order that they wish,” Tose wrote.
The Corps is now asking for public, agency and tribal comments. Comments can be submitted via email, written or verbal by the end of business day on August 31.
“We planning conduct some virtual outreach events,” Tose said. “One option would be to work through the radio stations; another option would be to do a Facebook Live or Zoom meeting.  We are open to suggestions.”
Regarding effective public comments, Tose said that the Corps takes those seriously. “Public comment helps to correct inaccuracies, provide missing perspectives and information and helps to support decision-making,” she noted.
A good comment is more than “I hate the project” or “ I love the project”, she said. “Substantive, and meaningful comments are related to the project and connects a commenter’s concerns with a specific aspect of the project.  For example, if you are a geologist or miner you might have concerns, experience, information or questions about the proposed operation about geologic assumptions, or assay methods.  If you subsistence fish in this area, you might have specific concerns about how the project would affect rearing habitat for a certain fish. The Corps wants to know, which aspect of the project would harm fisheries; which fishery and what time of year. When you fish, how many families rely on the food you catch,” Tose said.
The Corps has noted a number of inaccuracies and inconsistencies in the project narrative and is hoping that the public will provide comments and additional information.
She suggested that commenters become familiar with the project and any associated documents.  The Public Notice is a 268-page long document containing the Corps’ public notice, the original application, 26 pages of plans and a supporting 228-page project narrative from IPOP. Tose suggests that commenters “check the document against a checklist of what you understand should be in it, for substantive or technical errors or omissions, and for accuracy and consistency. Identify any shortcomings in the document, such as technical mistakes, or inconsistencies.  What is the applicant trying to say?  What are the gaps?  Tell us the “why” behind your thinking,” Tose said.
Other permits are also needed to inform the Corps’ decision.
The Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game’s Habitat Division has issued a permit that allows IPOP to complete a sediment plume study, dredging in the Bonanza Channel using six-inch suction dredge. This is in connection to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation’s water quality certification which becomes a part of the final permit.  DEC is considering a mixing zone for the sediment plume as part of the water quality certification.
Allan Nakanishi with the Dept. of Environmental Conservation’s Wastewater Discharge Authorization Program said the DEC approved a test dredge application on July 30, which is designed to collect necessary information that will support IPOPs large-dredge permit application. IPOP is allowed to collect field data from the test dredge study this summer. This information will be evaluated and provided to the permitting agencies for consideration in the large dredge permit application, Nakanishi said in an email to the Nugget.
 Asked about the time line, he said that the Corps of Engineers permitting process drives the timeline for this project and there are no predetermined schedules for permit issuance. “Based on the current status of the large dredge permit and the need to collect data from the test dredge study plan, it is unlikely that a permit for the large dredge will be completed in time for full dredging operation to occur this year,” Nakanishi wrote. IPOP has given their notification that test dredging will begin August 17.
Asked what IPOP must do to fulfill the obligations so the DEC can issue the necessary permit, Nakanishi said that
the amount of information that the applicant will need to provide to obtain an Alaska Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit is substantial. IPOP needs to produce an approved operating plan, baseline characterization of the receiving environment, characterization of the effluent, demonstration of silt curtain technology, drone collected data from plume observation, data required to conduct and antidegradation analysis and the general information required of any APDES permit, Nakanishi noted.
Other agencies involved in the permit are the National Marine Fisheries Services, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the State Historical Preservation Office as well as the Alaska Department of Natural Resources-Division of Mining and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
After the Corps’ comment period ends on August 31, the Corps will review all comments. Substantive comments are forwarded to the applicant and non-substantive comments are set aside, Tose explained. “The applicant has an opportunity to address concerns raised by commenters; they must rebut and respond to concerns identified.  The Corps works with the applicant and the commenters to resolve identified problems.  The Corps evaluates probable project impacts against a list of public interest review factors, analyzes measures to avoid and minimize impacts, and identifies the least damaging environmental alternative,” Tose wrote.
She added that there are no guarantees that the project will be permitted. The Corps has three choices: issue a permit with no Special Conditions, issue a permit with Special Conditions, or deny a permit.
The Corps has refused to announce the public notice in the newspaper, citing a tight budget.

For more information contact:
Army Corps of Engineers project manager Leslie Tose  toll free at (800) 478-2712  or by email at:  
Leslie.W.Tose@usace.army.mil
For hard copies of the operations plan contact Bill Burnett, Yukuskokon Professional Services, Phone: 907-373-4000, email:billburnett@yukuskokon.com