00                            HOUSE BILL NO. 233                                                                          
01 "An Act prohibiting certain mining activities within the watershed of the Bristol Bay                                   
02 Fisheries Reserve."                                                                                                     
03 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                                
04    * Section 1. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section                          
05 to read:                                                                                                                
06       LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS. The legislature finds that                                                                  
07            (1)  the Bristol Bay watershed is a region of unparalleled ecological value,                                 
08 boasting salmon diversity and productivity unrivaled elsewhere in North America;                                        
09            (2)  the region's salmon resources have supported Alaska Native people for                                   
10 thousands of years and continue to support local communities and Alaska Native cultures                                 
11 throughout Southwest Alaska;                                                                                            
12            (3)  the Bristol Bay watershed's largely undisturbed aquatic habitats and                                    
13 productive salmon populations support one of the most valuable commercial fisheries in the                              
14 world, creating $2,200,000,000 each year in economic activity and supporting 15,000 jobs;                               

01 (4)  the Bristol Bay region is home to a vibrant sport fishing, hunting, tourism,                                       
02 and recreation economy, supporting 7,000 fishing and hunting jobs and thousands of full- and                            
03 part-time tourism and recreation jobs;                                                                                  
04 (5)  in 1972, the Seventh Alaska State Legislature determined that a heightened                                         
05 level of protection was needed for Bristol Bay fisheries and acted by designating the Bristol                           
06 Bay Fisheries Reserve to protect the longstanding and valuable commercial, subsistence, and                             
07 sport fisheries in the region;                                                                                          
08 (6)  the region described as the Bristol Bay Fisheries Reserve and the rivers,                                          
09 streams, and lakes that produce the fish continue to require the same level of protection as                            
10 when the reserve was created; and                                                                                       
11 (7)  the considerations that justified the 1972 action also warrant new                                                 
12 protections to prevent hardrock mining activities that would risk polluting the region's river                          
13 systems, ground water, aquifer systems, and other hydrologic regimes, including any                                     
14 hydrologically interrelated or connected surface and ground water, within the drainage                                  
15 systems that connect to the surface water of Bristol Bay.                                                             
16    * Sec. 2. AS 38.05.142 is repealed and reenacted to read:                                                          
17 Sec. 38.05.142. Mining activities prohibited within watershed of Bristol                                            
18 Bay Fisheries Reserve. (a) Metallic sulfide mining activities are prohibited within the                               
19       watershed of the Bristol Bay Fisheries Reserve designated in AS 38.05.140(f).                                     
20 (b)  In this section, "metallic sulfide mining activities" means mining activities                                      
21       to extract sulfide minerals or precious metals from sulfide-bearing rock.