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The company trying to reopen the controversial Tulsequah Chief Mine, upstream from Juneau, is being taken over by an investor that’s owed millions of dollars.

It means polluted water could continue to drain from mine tunnels into a Taku River tributary. But there are disagreements over what, if any, damage is being done.

Toronto-based Chieftain Metals has been trying to reopen the historic Tulsequah Chief Mine for about six years.

The zinc, copper and gold mine is in northwest British Columbia, about 20 miles from the Alaska border. It’s next to a waterway that drains into the Taku River, near the capital city.

Biologists call it one of Southeast Alaska’s largest salmon-producing watersheds.

But a major investor wants its debt repaid.

Chieftain Metals doesn’t have enough money to do it. So, it’s going into receivership, which can lead to bankruptcy.

“What it means for the Taku watershed is the pollution is likely to continue.” said Chris Zimmer, Alaska campaign director for Rivers Without Borders. It’s one of a number of groups critical of mines and exploration projects along British Columbia rivers that flow into Alaska.

“When this mine was abandoned in 1957, no reclamation was done. And so for almost 60 years, we’ve had acid mine drainage, which is very toxic to aquatic critters, flowing right into the Taku, out of this mine, really unabated, without any reasonable attempt at cleanup that actually worked,” he said.

British Columbia regulators required Chieftain to reduce that pollution when it was solvent. The company built a plant, but said it was too expensive to operate without the mine opening and generating revenue.

Whether that acidic water and dissolved metals are a serious threat to salmon is disputed.

A number of environmental, tribal, municipal and fishing groups say it is. They point to a study estimating 15 tons of metals leech into the Taku watershed a year.

But a 2014 report released by mine developers said it’s not enough to cause problems. A state report issued two years earlier said concentrations in fish tissue are below federal safety requirements.

That study’s been expanded and redone.

“We received more money from the legislature to continue to investigate the metal concentrations in resident fish tissues at the mine and then above the mine and below the mine,” said Jackie Timothy, Southeast regional supervisor for the state Department of Fish and Game’s Habitat Division.

She said the new study will be published within the next month.

British Columbia also plans additional research.

Mines Minister Bill Bennett said Chieftain Metals was supposed to further evaluate the impacts of mine discharges. Since it’s no longer solvent, he says the government will take over the work.

“The most important thing is for us to do the right thing and make sure the site is not damaging the water that flows down through British Columbia and into Alaska waters,” he said. “There’s no question about our responsibility and there’s no question about our willingness to make sure we do what’s required here.”

But that doesn’t mean B.C. will treat the water or stop its flow into the river. Bennett says such actions will depend on the results of its research.

Transboundary mine critic Zimmer says that’s not good enough.

“If B.C. and its mining companies can’t operate or clean up the Tulsequah Chief in a way that doesn’t threaten the Taku, how can we have any confidence that much bigger mines like KSM, like Red Chris in the Unuk and in the Stikine can be operated as well without threatening our water quality and fisheries downstream?” he asked.

Chieftain Metals officials did not respond to phone and email requests for comment.

But a press release posted on its website confirms the company is in receivership, which means a representative of its largest investor is taking over its assets.

The release also said the majority of its board of directors has resigned.

Chieftain ran into financial trouble earlier this year after the Toronto-based investment company West Face Capital noted it had not paid more than $4 million in Canadian dollars in interest and fees.

West Face in August demanded repayment of its full $26-plus million investment. Chieftain does not have that much on hand, which led to its assets going into receivership.

More Alaskans will have affordable access to mobile phones and broadband internet, thanks to a change in federal communication rules and funding.

Rural communities throughout the United States benefit from what’s called the Universal Service Fund, which subsidizes expansion of and improvements to telecommunication systems.

It also keeps costs in small communities closer to those in big cities.

The Federal Communications Commission recently adopted a Universal Service Fund plan for Alaska that includes more than $1 billion to be spent over the next decade.

Communities from Adak to Kotzebue to Ketchikan will see improved service.

“Broadly, it just excludes Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau. So pretty much any areas outside of that,” said Christine O’Connor, executive director of the Alaska Telephone Association.

“It’s going to vary by company, but you’ll see speeds going up and more locations being reached over the next 10 years, starting immediately,” she said.

The plan requires wireless providers to deploy 4G LTE or better mobile service to at least 85 percent of rural Alaskans. That’s almost 10 times more than have that access now.

Broadband speeds will be at least 10 megabits per second for downloading and 1 megabit per second for uploading.

The goal is to provide that service to 90 percent of rural Alaska, up from the current 60 percent.

Each of the 15 companies involved will develop their own plans and timelines. And there are options other than the Alaska Plan within the Universal Service Fund.

Michael Garrett of the Alaska Power and Telephone Co. said the business will add more fiber optic cables to expand bandwidth.

“Look for us to be able to provide a better value service for what they pay us for, increased data caps and faster speeds, hopefully at at least the price we’re offering now or lower,” he said.

Alaska Power and Telephone provides internet service in Southeast’s Petersburg, Wrangell, Haines, Skagway and Prince of Wales Island. It also serves Tok and several other Interior communities.

Many of the companies have already expanded their services.

Alaska Telephone Association President Ed Cushing, of Ketchikan’s KPU Telecommunications, said there are limits without federal assistance.

“We are obligated and required by the FCC to charge the equivalent of urban rates. It’s financially impossible, unless you have a subsidy behind the scenes that makes it possible,” he said.

Some of the companies involved are small, serving a particular community or part of a region. But Alaska’s largest telecommunications company will also taking advantage of the funding.

Heather Handyside is a spokeswoman for GCI, which has about 200,000 customers.

“This dedicated 10-year investment from a partnership with the federal government … helps us make a business case for bringing these services to more communities in rural Alaska,” she said.

Expanding and speeding up broadband and cellphone service will help rural businesses and schools. Handyside said it will also create jobs, including in Alaska’s smaller communities.

The Alaska Telephone Association lists other partners in the Alaska Plan as Adak Eagle Enterprises, Arctic Slope Telephone Association Cooperative, Bristol Bay Telephone Cooperative, Bush-tell, Copper Valley Telecom, Cordova Telephone Cooperative, Matanuska Telephone Association, Nushagak Cooperative, OTZ Telephone Cooperative, Summit Telephone Company, TelAlaska, United Utilities and Yukon Telephone.

Enrolled members of Alaska’s largest tribal government are getting enhanced photo IDs.

They can be used for border crossings and some other situations where official identification is necessary.

But many other tribes can’t afford them.

The Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska counts more than 30,000 members in and outside the state.

It’s issued photo ID cards for more than a dozen years. But Central Council President Richard Peterson said the enhanced ones are more secure.

“These new IDs can’t really be replicated,” he said. “They have a hologram, kind of like the state ID has done. (And) TSA prefers having the enhanced cards,” he said.

The IDs have been required for several years by the Department of Homeland Security’s Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative.

“Unfortunately, not a lot of tribes have been able to do it because it’s quite costly,” said Jacqueline Pata, executive director of the National Congress of American Indians. She’s also a Central Council vice president.

“It’s kind of like one of those unfunded mandates from the (federal) government,” she said. “So, unless they’re able to get other resources – some tribes have been able to get some grant monies – but most tribes have had to fund it themselves.”

Enhanced IDs are particularly necessary for tribal governments near Mexico and Canada, Pata said.

“So many tribes are border tribes and our culture doesn’t stop because border lines were drawn,” she said.

The Central Council said the new IDs’ security enhancements will help protect personal data and reduce the risk of counterfeiting.

Council members can apply for the new cards through the organization’s website.

Peterson said they can mail in a photo or catch up with council officials as they travel the region.

“We try to get to our largest population bases for sure and get those done,” he said. “And then we do community visits and then we’ll bring our equipment there because they can print them on site.”

The new Central Council ID cards are good for five years, after which they must be replaced.

Federal funding cuts are reducing tribal welfare programs in seven Southeast Alaska communities.

Details have emerged about the four affected programs, offered through the Juneau-based Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska.

Funding comes from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which announced a reduction on short notice.

Tribal council director William Martin said about 230 low-income tribal members are being helped by one of the four programs this month.

The council runs the programs in Craig, Klawock, Douglas, Saxman, Wrangell, Juneau and Haines. They’re run by local tribal governments in some other communities.

One provides bus passes, child-care assistance and other resources to get clients into jobs.

“It’s designed to help them with things like interview clothing, if they don’t have interview clothing,” Martin said. “Or if they need work clothing or specialty work gear, like if they’re going into construction, we’d be able to assist them with the basic needs in construction or in carpentry.”

Martin said another program funds vocational training, including two-year degrees.

The third helps those seeking four-year degrees.

“Unfortunately because of these cuts, we cannot take any new clients and some of the services that we were able to provide for our existing clients will be reduced as well,” Martin said.

A fourth program puts clients in temporary jobs in which they’re paid. Martin said it’s all about gaining skills.

“Work experience is a program that we have designed to assist our clients who have little or no work experience, or who want to try out a career that they think they’re interested in, but not sure about it. So we can put it into a temporary position,” he said. “It’s designed to assist them in beefing up their resume so that they become more employable.”

Five temporary employees will be laid off at the end of this month, Martin said.

The council is continuing a program that provides cash for food, shelter, utilities and clothing.

An earlier report incorrectly stated such assistance would also be cut.

Southeast Alaska’s regional tribal government is temporarily ending programs that help clients find jobs and pay for living expenses.

The Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska says Bureau of Indian Affairs budget cuts are to blame.

William Martin directs the council’s 477 programs, which are named after the federal law that funds them.

He says they provide back-to-school clothing vouchers, on-the-job training and vocational-school and college scholarships.

“The people we’ve been working with are generally low-income, low-resource families. And our job is to assist them in becoming self-sufficient or getting to a place where they don’t need us anymore,” he said.

He says the BIA cut funding to the council by 20 percent, or about $650,000, for this calendar year.

Chief Operating Officer Corrine Garza says the council only learned about it eight months into the year.

“If we knew about it at the beginning of the year, of course, we could make cuts throughout the year, rather than trying to do it all in a period of four months,” she said.

Garza says the council received no formal notice of the reduction. She found the information in a grant document and confirmed it with the BIA. The federal agency did not immediately respond to emails about the cuts.

Tlingit-Haida Central Council runs the programs in Craig, Klawock, Kasaan, Saxman, Wrangell, Juneau and Haines. It’s run by local tribal governments in some other communities.

Council officials say they’re referring clients to other resources, when possible. It’s not clear whether the cuts will extend into next year.

Note: This report has been updated to include additional information about 477 programs. We’ve also corrected an error saying food, housing and other emergency assistance was being cut. That program continues to operate.

Southeast Alaska’s largest tribal organization said this month’s meetings with the U.S. State Department and Environmental Protection Agency were productive.

Among other things, the agencies could help expand water-monitoring efforts along transboundary rivers.

The 30,000-member Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska set up the government-to-government meetings.

President Richard Peterson said representatives heard about potential and existing pollution from British Columbia mines near rivers that flow into Alaska.

“I think we gave them some of our concerns and questions and whatnot,” he said. “That gives them a chance to go back and now have that next conversation that’s more action-based and promissory in nature.”

The federal officials met with tribal government and Native corporation leaders from Juneau, Ketchikan, Saxman, Douglas and Kasaan on Aug. 9-Aug. 11.

They talked about water-quality monitoring along fish-and-wildlife-rich transboundary rivers, Peterson said. Federal officials were interested in supporting the effort.

“And we were able to use that as an opportunity to push for more funding for activities regionwide, so that other communities can do that baseline analysis that needs to take place,” he said.

State Department and EPA public-affairs staff offered no comment on the meetings or any commitments made.

Peterson said they agreed to hold further meetings, which will happen this fall in Washington, D.C.

Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott and other state officials presented their concerns at the meetings.

They brought up a U.S. Canada boundary-waters treaty that includes a commission tasked with resolving such conflicts,” he said.

“We emphasized that if, when, how, in what manner, that the IJC, the International Joint Commission, might be engaged that we would No. 1, welcome it and No. 2, be part of it to the degree that that was appropriate,” he said.

Mallott heads up a state task force on transboundary mine concerns.

He and his team also brought up the need for more federal support.

“To put it mildly, Alaska is resource-constrained, at least fiscal resource-constrained, right now,” Mallott said. “These collaborations and network-building is very important.”

Alaska and British Columbia officials have been discussing the state’s concerns for more than a year.

A statement of cooperation detailing ways Alaska can provide more input into mine decisions is nearing a final draft.