News Release

Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve Community Involvement Plans for Mine Sites Now Available

Date: May 27, 2021
Contact: Mark Miller, 907-302-1373

Copper Center, AK. Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve releases Community Involvement Plans regarding cleanup activities that are being considered for the Kennecott Mines and Mill Town Site in Kennecott, AK and the Nabesna Mine Site near Slana, AK. 

Pursuant to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), the National Park Service (NPS) is conducting a Remedial Investigation at the Kennecott Mines and Mill Town Site to determine if measures should be taken to protect employees, the public, and the environment from mining- and milling- related contamination on public lands. At the Nabesna Mine Site, NPS is conducting an Engineering Evaluation/Cost Analysis to fully characterize the nature and extent of site contamination, identify relevant cleanup requirements, develop a range of cleanup alternatives, and identify a recommended cleanup action alternative.

Community Involvement Plans outline opportunities for active public participation that enable the public to provide valuable comments that can be used by NPS for planning and decision making for CERCLA activities at each of the sites. Community involvement ensures that the members of the public affected by a site undergoing investigation and cleanup under CERCLA have a say in the process; a right-to-know what NPS is doing to address the contamination; and are able to provide input into the decision-making process. Early and meaningful communication with affected community members is the goal of the community involvement process. 

Community Involvement Plans are living documents that will be periodically updated or revised.The Community Involvement Plans contain descriptions of the projects; overviews of previous environmental studies and response actions; where to obtain copies of the relevant documents; a description of the CERCLA process; descriptions of current and future site activities; and an overview and schedule of community involvement activities. The Plans, in addition to Administrative Record File documents, are now available on park webpages for the Nabesna Mine and Kennecott Mines and Mill Town sites.