British Columbia is trying to improve its relationship with Alaska, hoping to head off a backlash in the U.S. against several proposed mines in the northwest corner of the province.

The province’s environmental management record has been under increased scrutiny in Alaska since the Mount Polley mine disaster in central B.C., when a tailings pond dam broke this summer, releasing 24 million cubic meters of tainted water. The proposed new mines are all on watersheds that drain from B.C. into Southeast Alaska, raising fears any similar accident would send pollutants flushing across the border.

On Wednesday, B.C. Minister of Energy and Mines Bill Bennett was in Anchorage with a small delegation for a series of meetings with resource industry leaders, state and federal government officials and commercial fishermen.

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