With the proposed Donlin Gold Mine appearing like a truer and nearer reality, the City of Bethel is looking at transforming into an organized borough. At Tuesday’s meeting Bethel City Council voted to give City Manager Ann Capela the go-ahead into mapping out the process.
Council member Nikki Hoffman introduced the measure.
Capela said, as a borough, Bethel would have greater control over land use and could tax Donlin Gold.
“The City of Bethel will have many, many of the impacts from this industry with no financial benefits. And there is no mechanism for the city, currently, at this time, to go and make them come to the table,” Capela said.
Last month Donlin Gold released its environmental impact statement. Capela said, according to the document, if anything goes awry the city cannot hold the mining company accountable or extract impact fees— something the city could change as a borough.
One of those impacts, Capela predicts, will be on Bethel’s port and the Kuskokwim River. Capela said Donlin Gold plans to park a sea barge near Bethel and run at least two river barges a day along the waterway.
“And, by the way, they propose that nothing will ever happen. No spills will take place, and if it does they’ll call the National Guard. There is no contingency for emergency management,” Capela added.
As a borough, Bethel would have more leverage holding Donlin Gold responsible if damages occurred and creating demands for emergency mitigation.
Morphing into an organized borough would be hugely complicated, and Capela estimates the process would take three years, about the same time Donlin needs to gather its necessary permits.
The council voted 4-2 to allow Capela to begin exploring the borough organization process.
Anna Rose MacArthur is a reporter at KYUK in Bethel.
