AJ Mine

How do you feel about the city facilitating the reopening of the AJ Mine?

I was actually on the AJ Mine Advisory Committee. I was among the people tasked with that task – under what circumstances should the city reopen the AJ Mine? I think as part property owner of those lands, it is simply prudent that the Assembly and the city look at those opportunities. We own part of that land. We should do everything we can to see what can be developed there. Now, it has to be done in a cautious way, in a way that does not hurt the environment or harm or even threaten the water supply. We’re working on alternative water supplies, we’re working on making sure that if such a thing is developed, that we can do it in a way that is prudent. Now, it’s land right downtown and so the cautions and the conditions that would have to be in place for that to be developed would need to be very stringent, but I think it is prudent and the city should be looking at those opportunities.

The AJ Mine, it’s kind of a contentious subject here in our community. There are several things that we need to take into consideration when we talk about the mine and the first is that we need to have somebody that wants to come in and open the mine. I’ve yet to see a proposal to open the mine. Should the mine be opened, Juneau owns approximately 60 percent of the AJ Mine. So that would certainly help to reduce the tax burden on our community and our citizens. But the one thing that we have to take into consideration is that we can’t open the mine unless we have the guarantee, the assurance that we will continue to have safe drinking water. We cannot affect our drinking water source and as we know that’s where a lot of our drinking water comes from in this community. So unless we can maintain or ensure that we are going to have safe drinking water, opening the mine has to come second fiddle to making sure that we have safe drinking water.

I was involved with the mine in the 1990s to some extent. We did some planning work. I think as a community I think we need be open to looking at what that would mean for the community. There’s certainly going to be opportunities there in terms of additional jobs (and) the likelihood that it would stimulate additional hydro development because certainly mines need electrical power. That’s an opportunity to get some value long-, long-term for the Borough to have additional sources of cheap hydro power for the community. Whether the community wants to go there (and) whether we want to entertain that, that’s a Borough-wide discussion and hits to the heart of what I would like to bring to the Borough. That is that I have always had an approach that you listen, that you communicate, and that you react collaboratively. That’s the type of opportunity whether it’s in a mine, or the road, or protecting our drinking water system, or bringing in more business to the community, all these kinds of things. We need to listen to each other, we need communicate back we heard, and turn that into viable options for consideration and then we to collaborate to bring those ideas into fruition to actual action.

What did I say, the Road is a sure fire way to start an argument in any room? You just gave me the second one, right? We know that it’s possible to do hard rock mining right in Southeast Alaska. We have two responsible hard rock mines within the borough. Neither one of them is under our downtown tourism district or neighborhoods; neither one of them sits underneath our water supply. So this question is a great deal thornier than the others we face.The second piece of it, beyond neighborhood impacts and the water supply question, is how does a government who is an owner also serve as the community’s watchdog? And I think that’s such a difficult question that it probably explains why we haven’t seen mining companies step in to come into Juneau and say, that’s the one for us.

We do see exploration in other places in the City and Borough of Juneau. And so I think the Assembly needs to take a good look at our large mine ordinance, and make sure that it strikes the right balance between doing it right and protecting our community. And as potential developers look at the gold resources around Juneau, that can be an important part of our economic future.

If we can ensure a way to protect the watershed, and the City and Borough of Juneau can lease the property out to an operator as a partner, I would be for opening the AJ mine.

When that came up last election cycle it was interesting to hear that they were looking at reopening the AJ. But I think as long as the AJ has any chance of having any spill off go into one of our important water supplies I don’t think I can support it without being really afraid that we’re going to lose our quality water.

I think that it’s not really, or it shouldn’t be the city’s responsibility to operate a mine. But it should definitely — we should look into letting private companies or investors see what they can do with it. If the structure’s already there, and there might be something worthwhile under the ground, then, somebody that’s interested should have the opportunity to see what they can do.

If there is a good, reasonable investigation into it, if you will, I think the Assembly, once it looks at results or proposals, should investigate, should look at it very thoroughly and I think it’s a responsibility just to take a reasonable look at it and see if it’s something that could work. I know it’s a pretty contentious subject, but in the long run, it can be a revenue generator for the city. But the big thing is, is just taking a really close, reasonable look at proposals for opening that up and ensuring it’s a good mix for what we do.