The Uncosted West · Episode 12 of 15 · 39 min
Alaska's Zinc Boom and the Collapse of the Yukon Salmon
The world's largest zinc mine tops the EPA's toxic-release list while a thousand miles of salmon rivers sit empty for the twelfth year running. The episode covers Red Dog mine on NANA land, noting that most of its reported tonnage is managed waste rock, along with the Yukon-Kuskokwim salmon collapse and the trawler bycatch fight. It weighs Red Dog's economic lifeline to the Iñupiat against a real scientific dispute over causation.
Where it happens
- Red Dog Mine, Northwest Arctic, AlaskaWorld's largest zinc mine on Iñupiat-owned land
- Kivalina, AlaskaVillage near the haul road and Wulik River
- Yukon River, Alaska+3 more episodesSalmon river with collapsed Chinook and chum runs
- Kuskokwim River, Alaska+2 more episodesSalmon river with collapsed runs
- Bering Sea+10 more episodesHome of the largest U.S. pollock fishery
Timeline
- 1971Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act creates regional Native corporations
- 1982NANA and Cominco sign agreement to develop Red Dog
- 1989Red Dog begins production
- 2021Pollock trawlers record about 546,000 chum salmon as bycatch
- April 2024U.S. and Canada agree to a seven-year Yukon Chinook fishing suspension
- February 11, 2026North Pacific council adopts first Western Alaska chum bycatch limit, effective 2028
Still debated
Most of Red Dog's reported releases are on-site waste rock, but the health significance of fugitive dust and Wulik River metals is debated. Scientists also have not settled how much ocean warming, disease, freshwater conditions, and trawler bycatch each contribute to the salmon collapse.
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