NOTN- Conservation and land trust leaders are raising alarms over a $28.5 million state-backed Ferry Terminal and Ore facility at Cascade Point, saying it’s advancing without key environmental review or tribal consultation and could reshape the region’s important cultural and ecological areas.
“This project kind of came up internally from DOT emails in 2019 and has moved at breakneck speed. In the last couple of years, there’s been a Memorandum of Understanding signed between Goldbelt, those are the land owners at Cascade point and the DOT.” Said Stacy Unzicker Mining Campaigner for Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, “So that would be, not only a ferry terminal, but a shared mixed use dock with an Ore dock in Berners Bay. There’s a lot of other places that money could be spent that would benefit not just Juneauites and people from Haines and Skagway, but all of Southeast Alaska, who’ve really been gutted with inconsistencies with ferry service.”
The proposal would create a mixed-use facility at Cascade Point in Berners Bay, combining a ferry terminal with an ore dock to serve a potential mine at Herbert Glacier, about 12 miles away. The funding comes from leftover money originally appropriated for the Juneau Access Road project.
Tyler Breen, an Environmental Policy Analyst with the Conservation Council, said state officials committed the money before completing the permitting, tribal consultation and federal environmental review processes that are supposed to inform whether and how such a project proceeds.
“On February 12, we gave testimony to the State House and Senate, outlining that the $28.5 million contract commits funds for this state to have momentum on this project in advance of the consultation and permitting processes that are intended to inform whether a project should happen.” Breen said, “So tribal consultation has not yet happened. By committing that $28.5 million in advance of assessing these baseline studies and doing the processes of assessing potential alternatives, they’ve constrained the potential outcome. That is, from my perspective as a policy analyst, a grave oversight.”
Tribal consultation as well as Clean Water permitting, have not been completed, the group said.
The Southeast Alaska Land Trust, which conserves about 280 acres downriver of the proposed mining expansion at Herbert Glacier, is backing the conservation council’s push for a more public comment and conversation.
Unzicker described Berners Bay as the “breadbasket of Juneau,” a place where Indigenous communities and local residents have long fished, hunted and recreated. The area supports herring runs, salmon streams and habitat for brown bears, moose and wolverines.
“These are clean, Lingít lands, specifically Wooshkeetaan lands in Berners Bay,” Unzicker said. “People actively go there to subsist and harvest from the sea and the land. We need to protect our anadromous fish because they’re the bounty that keeps giving, and mines are only there for a short time.”
In recent legislative testimony, a regional transportation official said 92% of public comments submitted during a comment period opposed the Cascade Point proposal, attributing much of that opposition to “fear of the unknown.” Conservation advocates dispute that characterization, saying the public is reacting to the information that has been made available.
“We want to make it vociferously clear that we are quite aware of everything that there has been transparency on,” Unzicker said, adding that the group is trying to maintain a constructive working relationship with transportation officials. “We believe they want to do good work, and we appreciate the ways they keep Alaska moving. We also want to make sure people aren’t getting lost in political agendas.”
To broaden the discussion, the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council and Southeast Alaska Land Trust are hosting a public event today from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Juneau Arts and Culture Center.
The first panel will feature tribal representatives speaking about their lineal connections to the land and the lack of consultation, followed by a second panel with conservation staff, a naturalist and a civil engineer taking questions from the public.
Organizers plan to livestream the event on the conservation council’s YouTube channel, with staff moderating comments so residents in communities such as Haines and Skagway can participate remotely.
“Please help us make sure that the decision makers, CBJ, legislators, DOT, all of these decision makers, need to hear from us really broadly about how this will impact us.” Unzicker said.
