The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) recently awarded a $37.5 million grant to Graphite One, a Canadian mining company, to build one of the largest graphite mines in the world next to the Kigluaik Mountains and the Imuruk Basin, located in the center of the Seward Peninsula, Alaska. The Biden Administration and the DoD failed to first consult with the Federally recognized Tribal governments of Teller, Mary’s Igloo, and Brevig Mission despite significant project impacts to local communities and ways of life. Now, Graphite One is proposing to build a mine site four times its original size, a mine that would be comparable to the Red Dog zinc mine north of Kotzebue.

The Imuruk Basin is home to the largest watershed on the Seward Peninsula and is an important subsistence hunting and fishing use area for salmon, caribou, seal, beluga whale, berries, and whitefish. The Native Villages of Teller, Mary’s Igloo, and Brevig Mission have all expressed their opposition against the construction of a large graphite mine near the Imuruk Basin because of its location in a particularly sensitive area for wildlife, including federally protected and endangered polar bears. Located about 37 miles north of Nome, the Imuruk Basin is home to archaeological sites, burial grounds, and sacred landscapes that are religiously and culturally significant to the Iñupiaq people throughout the region.

The mining industry is the No. 1 source of water pollution in the US, and international mining corporations like Graphite One have a long history of bypassing Indigenous and local community resistance. As climate change continues to wreak havoc on subsistence fisheries throughout Alaska, including North Bering Sea communities, stronger safeguards on renewable resources like salmon are needed. The Graphite One project risks releasing toxic metals into the watershed and negatively affecting streams flowing out of the Kigluaik Mountains.

Please help support the Norton Bay Watershed Council to defend Tribal communities, human rights, and clean water. Water is a critical life-giving resource. Donate and help support Indigenous voices that support a clean and healthy future for current and future generations by protecting the Imuruk Basin Watershed.