Brice seeks Corps permit for an 8-acre gravel pit along the Inmachuk River near Deering

Fairbanks-based Brice Incorporated has applied to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for a permit to dig a gravel pit that would disturb 8 acres of wetlands and waters along the Inmachuk River near Deering. The Corps opened public comment on the application Monday.

Brice says the sand and gravel would supply airport rehabilitation and community infrastructure projects in Deering and the surrounding area. Written comments, and written requests for a public hearing stating the reasons, are due Dec. 3, according to the Corps' public notice.

The site is in the Inmachuk River valley, mostly undeveloped tundra with about 3 feet of organic soil and silt over sand and gravel. Brice would place 32,000 cubic yards of fill in 2.4 acres of jurisdictional waters and excavate 5.6 acres of wetlands. Crews would strip about 30,000 cubic yards of organic soil, pile it permanently on two sides of the pit, then dig 15 to 20 feet deeper for up to 90,000 cubic yards of gravel. A temporary berm would keep stream water out, then be breached when mining ends so the pit fills into a pond. Work would start in January 2027 and run three years, year-round.

Brice says water pumped from the pit would be routed away from the main stem of the Inmachuk River.

Brice says compensatory mitigation, which offsets lost wetlands by restoring or protecting others, should not be required because no program selling such offsets serves the Northwest Arctic Borough or the Inmachuk River watershed. It also says avoiding wetlands is not practicable. Uplands make up 6.7% of the Deering Airport planning area, and seven nearby sites did not meet project needs, according to the application.

The Corps made a preliminary finding of no effect on endangered or threatened species, including spectacled and Steller's eiders, and no adverse effect on fish habitat protected under federal fisheries law. No permit can be issued until the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation grants or waives state water quality certification.

The airport work is the state transportation department's Deering Airport and Access Road Improvements project. The department ties the need to Inmachuk River ice-jam flooding in 2015 and 2016, which led the state to declare a community disaster in Deering in 2016. The Corps' 2021 permit for that project authorized 8.1 acres of wetland fill for the access road and 10.4 acres for runway embankments through Dec. 31.