Photo By: Anna Lionas Graphite One campsite located at the base of the Kigluaik mountains   Urgent Petition: PLEASE READ 
The Graphite One Mining Project threatens to harm the environment, local communities, and wildlife of Nome, Alaska. While the company promises economic benefits, the costs to the land, culture, and health of those who live there are far too great. We must act now before it’s too late. The project is moving forward rapidly, with construction slated to begin in 2029 and production as early as 2030. If we don’t stop this now, irreversible damage will be done. 
Summary of Text: Graphite One Mining Project is a proposed operation near Nome, Alaska, that plans to mine 23,680 acres of land around Graphite Creek, disrupting both the environment and local way of life. While Graphite One claims the project will provide high-quality graphite for U.S. production, the true cost will be felt by the ecosystem and local communities, which are set to endure irreversible harm. The mining project is located 37 miles from Nome, at the base of the Kigluaik Mountains, and will involve the removal of a vast chunk of land, significantly impacting the area and potentially altering the permafrost that could contribute to environmental hazards like methane emissions. Local employees are being paid to help the company navigate the land, but concerns arise over whether they fully understand the long-term consequences, including the disruption of sacred hunting grounds and the degradation of ecosystems vital to their way of life. Graphite One’s operational plans, set to begin in 2029, involve constructing a processing mill, a power plant powered by diesel generators, and huge storage tanks for the necessary fuel, while also relying on vast quantities of diesel and gasoline, leading to significant air and soil contamination. The planned open-pit mine, extending over one mile long and half a mile wide, will produce a large amount of waste material alongside valuable graphite, adding to the massive transportation infrastructure needed, which will increase dust pollution and raise concerns about the health of local residents. The project also has to clear numerous environmental permits, with recent studies showing discrepancies in Graphite One’s research about the area’s fish populations and a lack of transparency regarding the actual environmental impact. Although there is a proposed reclamation process, heat disturbance from blasting and construction, along with the thawing of permafrost, may not be reversible, and the reclamation of bridges and roads may not restore the land to its original state. The construction of a 17-mile road through Mosquito Pass would significantly disrupt hunting grounds and increase traffic, which is already an issue along Kougarok Road, where local residents will have to cope with the increased noise, dust, and truck traffic. At the campsite near the mine, temporary structures already show visible signs of land disruption, which will worsen as construction intensifies, with the daily use of trucks adding to the environmental toll. Carbon emissions from diesel trucks used to transport materials from the mine could add up to 31,835 pounds of carbon dioxide per day, which is equivalent to the annual emissions of one average American. All while exacerbating the climate crisis for a project that produces materials for electric vehicle batteries, not benefiting the rural communities whose lives are being heavily altered. Noise pollution and disruptive land traffic could force local wildlife, including moose, bears, and wolves, to migrate, reducing subsistence hunting resources, and disrupting the way of life for families that rely on these animals for survival. The dust from increased vehicle traffic would affect berry-picking and other traditional gathering practices, creating health concerns for local residents, with a prolonged exposure to dust potentially causing respiratory issues. Local residents are deeply connected to their land, and the destruction caused by Graphite One will harm both the environment and the cultural practices that sustain their way of life. The ecosystem and wildlife that rely on the land, including multiple species of fish, birds, and mammals, will be severely disrupted. This will lead to long-term ecological damage. If the Graphite One mine is approved, it will pave the way for further mining operations in the region, threatening to turn Nome into a boomtown at the expense of its people, environment, and wildlife. This project puts not only Nome’s future but the entire region at risk for generations to come. 
Sign this petition to protect our land, wildlife, and future. The time to act is now—before the environmental destruction and cultural loss become a reality.                                                                          Graphite None *For the people of this region along with the plants and animals that can’t type* 
Graphite One is a mining project that will be located about 37 miles north from Nome, Alaska at the base of the Kigluaik Mountain Range. Graphite One plans to remove a large chunk of the mountains to get materials out of what’s known as Graphite Creek (otherwise known as "the Property" per the Graphite One Company). According to the Graphite One's website, the Feasibility Study results state, "The Property comprises 23,680 acres or State of Alaska mining claims.”. So, this project plans to directly affect at least 23,680 acres of land around Nome. The altering of the Feasibility Study was expedited by the Department of Defense's “Defense Production Act Title IIl”. Mainly due to the two Executive Orders signed by Trump called, "Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral Production” and "Unleashing Alaska's Extraordinary Resource Potential”. All of this information was gathered from the plan proposals which can be located on Graphite One's website, granhiteoneinc.com. According to this website, Graphite Creek will produce America’s largest high-quality graphite deposit. Due to the Defense Production Act Title III, the Feasibility Study for this project was completed more than a year in advance (15 months). Graphite One is predicting the construction of this project will start in 2029, and the production for the company will start as soon as 2030. However, a closer look at this project reveals the project’s true cost, that the people, ecosystems, and traditions will have to endure.  
AK Graphite One has been paying about 20-30 local employees since 2024 money they don’t usually see, for work that the citizens consider life. At the community meeting located in Nome, Alaska on Thursday May 22, 2025,  a Brevig citizen voiced his opinion on the whole situation at hand saying, "You guys have been buttering us up".  Citizens get paid to bring out scientists, and workers who aren’t familiar with the land. Since the citizens do not understand the extent of this project, they are extremely happy with the expenses they are receiving. Blinding the citizens with money is unethical. These local employees may not understand that they are working for people who do not care for them, and are obligated to hire them because the company would not be able to navigate, or even come to understand, this land without them. The people may not realize the true toll that they will have to endure.  
As of April 23, 2025, Graphite One announced that their company is planning to build numerous enabling capacities. From a news article released on May 1, 2025 by the Nome Nugget, more specifically Anna Lionas, a mill will be used to process the ore. Along with a power plant that’s powered by three diesel generators with an output of 15 megawatts, a filtration and processing plant for mine tailings, a shop to repair/store trucks, a water treatment plant, explosive storage, and multiple staging grounds for the containers the ore will be stored in. The diesel will be held by a 850,000-gallon diesel tank, which is going to be fueling the power plant, building heaters, concentrate dryer, and a plethora of traveling equipment. Aside from the 850,000-gallon diesel tank, the company estimates they will need an additional 8 million gallons of diesel, and 36,000 gallons of gasoline. According to the KNOM website, close to 11,000 containers on a 24-acre site located in Nome will be brought forth to hold material. Additionally, there will be thousands of other containers for transferring. The material is put into containers because of the harmful effects the graphite could have on the health of humans, environment, and animals.  
The plant will be a nuclear power plant, so there will be no harmful emissions from the plant itself. A boiler will heat up water, creating steam, which will then turn a turbine to generate electricity. This electricity will be powering the plant with a little more than double the amount of the electricity the whole City of Nome uses. Furthermore, due to the high demand of electricity, there needs to be generators providing that. These generators will run on diesel and to accommodate this project there will be five fuel storage tanks built in Nome in addition to the current eight fuel storage tanks to accommodate the demand of the project’s needs.  
From the process of drilling and blasting huge chunks of land, ore is found. Ore is a mineral deposit that contains any “valuable” mineral. The open pit mine is proposed to be one mile long, and half a mile wide at the widest point. The ore removed will then be transferred to a processing facility near the pit, where extractions will be taking place. Then, the repeated process of grinding the ore, and allowing the more precious minerals to float to the surface occurs. The collections from the substances that came to the surface, will “get filtered and dried on sight” (according to the Feasibility Study), turning into graphite ore. This graphite ore would then get shipped out of the Port of Nome, onto a barge, to a port in Spokane (or Ketchikan) to be moved to trucks in Washington, to then be transferred to either the Supply Chain Processing Plant, or Advanced Graphite Manufacturing Plant, both plants are planned to be located in Ohio. When at these plants, the graphite ore will be turned into a fine graphite powder. Each season is proposed to set out nine barges, transferring 8,200 containers which would be holding graphite concentrate. Out of all of the total material that is physically taken out of the land where the pit will be, only half of the material will be considered valuable, while the rest of the material is waste.  
The mine has to be granted permits in order to execute this project. This includes hundreds of permits, but around 16 major permits that they are struggling with as of the community meeting held by AK Graphite One in Nome, Alaska on May 22, 2025. These permits are mostly ensuring the safety of the environment. During the community meeting held in Nome, a citizen, Keith Conger, claimed that he obtained a recent picture of fish in a stream with GPS coordinates. This is significant because the studies AK Graphite One have done in this stream have shown that there are no fish in this stream. Citizens claim that Graphite One’s studies in recent years differ from reality. So, there is no assurance of any kind that the studies report to be valid, which could also mean an abundance of information is not being taken into account by this company.  
A reclamation process will be enacted in multiple aspects of the mine. Once the mine is completed, the road built to access the mining site will be reclaimed. Along with the land being built over. However, since this specific mine has operations such as construction, blasting, and excavation, the mine will create heat and disrupt the natural insulating layers of the land beneath the mining operations. So, reclaiming or bringing the permafrost back, may not be possible. This could contribute to the emissions from the thawing of the permafrost, and could thaw harmful substances in the surrounding environment. The reclamation process of the bridges (there will be five single lane bridges, and one double lane bridge crossing a total of six rivers), would be “literally picking up the bridges and loading them onto a truck”. This is the answer I received when I asked the question, “What would the reclamation process for the bridges look like?” at the community meeting with AK Graphite One held in Nome. A 141-t haul truck will have to cross these bridges to get to the mining site (according to the feasibility study). These bridges will need to be able to accommodate a precise weight capacity for these trucks that weigh 6,300 pounds unloaded, while ensuring a realistic reclamation process of the land around the bridges.  
There is no existing road to Graphite Creek, but the Graphite One Senior Vice President of Mining stated, “It’s literally only 37 miles out there. So with a good road, you’re talking about a 45 to 50 minute ride out there,”. The Senior Vice President of Mining for the company Graphite One is referring to the planned construction of the 17 mile road that will connect to the campsite located in between Graphite Creek and the Imuruk Basin. This road will begin around mile 30 on the existing Kougarok Road. This two-lane, 17 mile long road will be going through a total of six rivers, and is crossing through Mosquito Pass. This is a very frequent hunting ground for commoners of not only Nome, but of the region as well. When Graphite One Company Senior Vice President of Mining was asked how many trucks were going to be driven daily, he stated, “about 15 to 18 double or two trailer trucks a day, carrying 40 tons of material”.  
Kougarok Road drives through numerous houses, and camps that live all along the road, from in town, to the people who live in the mountains behind Nome. These specific citizens of Nome will experience a huge traffic increase made by trailer trucks accommodating the mining operations. These citizens will be the first to experience the side effects, like disrupted dust, and increased traffic. This would disrupt the peace of nature the people living in these areas have come to experience.  
The campsite in between Graphite Creek and Imuruk Basin looked like a small city of beige tents from a bird's eye view. In the summer of 2024, these tents contained a plethora of supplies. These supplies contained everything about 60 individuals would need in order to survive far away from stores or any urbanization. The tents at the camp were outlined with electric bear fencing. The tents are owned by Alaska Minerals, a contractor who also provides the campsite of kitchen staff. There is a tent filled with washers and dryers, private bathrooms and showers with running water that comes from a tank filled with well water. There is another tent that's purpose is a recreation tent. This tent contained equipment that was used for working out, and a foosball table. Outside of the tents you could have found a helipad, where the helicopter was supposed to land. Interestingly enough, the helicopter would commonly be seen landing directly on the tundra. Elongated periods of automobile action, like driving side-by-sides, or ATV’s through tundra in order to get to those tents have disrupted the surrounding tundra. All of this information was gathered from a Nome Nugget newspaper, from a reporter, Ben Townsend, who got the chance to visit the campsite.  
During the summer of 2024, there was already visibly disrupted land- multiple trails cutting through the previously untouched land (in the sense of drilling/mining). There is going to be a dramatic increase of human interaction with this land, and it is NOT going to be done by the hunters. When the road through Mosquito Pass is built there will be multiple trailer trucks traveling throughout the Kougarok Road, along with the additional 17 mile road that will be built. They plan to use this almost everyday out of the year. The mine will be roughly 37 miles away from the Port of Nome. So, just accounting for the drive of one trailer truck to the Port of Nome from the pit of the mine, would emit just about 127.34 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. A trailer truck carrying no material would produce roughly 103.5 pounds of carbon dioxide. Graphite One proposes to move 10,000 tons of materials per day (at the height of mining operations it is calculated to be up to 30,000 tons of material, but the math for this is calculated to move 10,000 tons of material), if this number is divided by 40 tons, which is the number of material each trailer truck can hold. We end up with 250, 250 is the number of trips all the trailer trucks combined will have to complete in order to accomplish the goal of 10,000 tons of material moved. Each trailer truck traveling 37 miles will use about 5.7 gallons of diesel. 250 times 5.7 is 1,422.5 gallons of diesel. The statistics of diesel fuel emits, are recorded to be 22.38 pounds of carbon dioxide per gallon when burned/used. 1,422.5 gallons multiplied by 22.38 pounds equals roughly 31,835.55 pounds of carbon dioxide being emitted into our atmosphere a day. The amount of carbon dioxide an average American emits in a year, according to the National Preserve, is 32,000 pounds. Which is almost the same amount of carbon dioxide that is calculated to enter our ecosystems, just accounting for the drives to the Port. Also, this is not accounting for all of the drives the trailer trucks will take to the processing plant from the loading zone (which would be near the open pit), the drive the trailer trucks will have to take back to the loading zone from the Port of Nome, the two fuel truck loads per day, four loading trips per day for employees (on buses), 1-2 loads per day on other miscellaneous supplies, road maintenance, or the mill. Keep in mind, this project is proposing to do this 365 days out of the year for 21 consecutive years, and at the peak of business will be tripling this. These will all bring forth extreme amounts of emissions which all come from accommodating the mine to produce graphite for electric cars that can’t even be driven in rural communities. And these rural communities are the ones who will have to face the hardships, and negative effects the mine will create. Just for people who have enough money, to gain more and more wealth.  
When the company starts the construction and even throughout the lifetime of the mine, there will be a lot of noise. Thus creating noise pollution, and this can cause a lot of different problems. Animal migration patterns will be heavily altered by this. Once the animals start to hear, and even feel the impacts from the mine, the animals will remember the feeling of being scared, or unsure in those lands. Due to this the animals will not return to those lands. When moose, and bears start to move out of lands they have been living on for hundreds of years, hunters will have to find new hunting grounds. The people of this region who rely on animals will experience a decrease in subsistence around the mine. Meaning some people won’t have meat throughout the long winter of the upcoming year. Although this may seem irrelevant to some, it is the harsh reality of others.  
The dust in Nome, Alaska being a problem is something all the residents living here can agree on. If there is an increase in big trailer trucks with 15-18 wheels then there will also be a huge increase in the amount of dust being moved around. This dust would be landing on gathered food off the land, and could become a health problem if people are exposed to this for an elongated period of time. This also proposes an increase in the chance of respiratory problems for the people who are in contact with this dust for an elongated period of time. And considering that the project is proposed to continue for 21 years, there will definitely be an extended period where dust is disrupted. This could affect the health, animals, and the environment. Indigenous peoples have been picking berries to provide for a sweet treat, jam, and just to give to our elders. These berries get put away and stored in freezers to last until the next season of berries. If there is a major increase in traffic, the berries close by Kougarok Road will get coated in dust, and the people picking berries would be interrupted by trailer trucks, dust, and loud noise coming from these trucks. This would not be ideal for the people outside, in surrounding areas, creating a disruptive environment opposed to the natural environment they are used to.  
When talking to my father, he stated he began hunting in Mosquito Pass four years ago. He was introduced to this land by another long term citizen of Nome, Ron Horner. Mosquito Pass is usually hunting ground for bears, on the Nome side, and moose on the Teller side. Cobblestone River is an extremely common hunting ground for moose, and this river is being looked at, and explored by Graphite One, due to the minerals found there. Imuruk Basin is the basin that this river leads into, along with many others. In these rivers numerous species of fish can be found, along with seals. All five species of pacific salmon, Chinook, coho, sockeye, chum, and pink, along with grey-ling, dolly, whitefish, and pike can all be found in these waters. And on the land of Mosquito Pass a diverse ecosystem can be found. Animals like moose, bear, rabbit, ptarmigan, wolverine, fox, lynx, wolves, shrews, mice, squirrels, a plethora of birds, musk ox, caribou, and reindeer can all be spotted in this area, depending on the time of year. So it is not a question if the mine has animals to disrupt.  
Graphite One will be encroaching on the land of, and surrounding Nome. Graphite One will take advantage of the land of Alaskan Natives, all without having to face the hardships of Alaska that the indigenous people have been enduring for decades. This land provides many fundamental necessities for not only the people who live a subsistence lifestyle, but also the entire community of Nome. People in this region who live off of the land are directly connected to their surrounding environment. There is no separation of civilization and environment to the lives of anyone in Nome who practices hunting and gathering. This being said, if the land starts to lower in health, then so will the health of the humans who rely on the animals. The animals that are interacting with the land proposed to be disturbed will have to deal with the side effects. These side effects that could occur like water contamination (for example by an unpredictable oil/fuel spill), soil erosion, and habitat destruction are extremely harmful to ecosystems. Water contamination would create an unsafe and unsuitable water source for drinking, irrigation, and effectively supporting aquatic life. Soil erosion would reduce soil fertility, and slow, or temporarily stop plant growth. Not to mention years worth of permafrost may be melted, never being able to freeze into permafrost again. Mining operations tend to drastically alter landscapes, destroying necessary habitats for various plants and animals. The loss of this variety weakens the entire ecosystem, and disrupts the food chain. For those who do rely on hunting, gathering, or fishing this means that there will be a direct loss of resources they can rely on.  This project will be beneficial to numerous amounts of people, but the balance is not right. Even with some benefits, there comes destruction of environment that disrupt food chains. Leading to the humans of this food chain (the hunters of this region) having no food to hunt. So the benefits cannot reimburse the native peoples that the project hurts in any way if they cannot live. 
If Graphite One is put into action, the citizens of Nome are creating a welcoming environment for future mining and drilling companies and operations to start their business and operations here. If BSNC executes their plans to build a sustainable mining operation, this will impose on others they could do the same. The City of Nome, and more importantly the people, animals, and environment in our region cannot withstand Nome becoming a boom town once again.