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Supreme Court decision will leave Pebble initiative on ballot

August 18th 12:54 pm | Margaret Bauman Print this article   Email this article   Create a Shortlink for this article

The Alaska Supreme Court has cleared the way for an initiative that could block development of the Pebble Mine to be placed on the Oct. 4 ballot for the Lake and Peninsula Borough.

The initiative aims to amend borough code to preclude granting permits for mining operations of greater than 640 acres that would give rise to a significant adverse impact on any salmon stream.

Fisheries are the lifeblood of the economy of Southwest Alaska and opponents of the mine fear that the massive copper, gold and molybdenum mine would have adverse affects on salmon spawning streams, which are numerous in the area of the mine.

The Pebble Limited Partnership, which maintains that the mine and salmon resources can co-exist, had gone to court to try to keep the initiative off of the ballot, but the Supreme Court yesterday ruled against them. The case was heard by Chief Justice Walter L.Carpeneti, and Justices Daniel E.Winfree, Morgan Christen and Craig Stowers. Winfree entered the only dissenting opinion. Justice Dana Fabe did not participate.

After opponents of the mine gathered more than enough signatures of borough residents to put the initiative on the ballot, the Pebble Partnership, which consists of Northern Dynasty Minerals and Anglo American PLC, took the matter to court, arguing that the borough clerk should not have certified the initiative to go to a vote.

The Pebble Partnership, which has spent millions of dollars doing exploration for several years on state lands at the headwaters of the Bristol Bay watershed and plans to apply for permits to mine the site for copper, gold and molybdenum, is not specifically mentioned in theinitiative..

In his July 26 decision, Alaska Superior Court Judge John Suddock said that for lack of clearly controlling appellate authority establishing the invalidity of this initiative proposal, the court has deferred ruling on all pending motions for summary judgment under after the election.

Attorney Scott Kendall, who is representing Alaskans for Bristol Bay in the case, said "Alaska has a long, proud tradition of upholding every citizen's right to vote. We are very pleased that the Alaska Supreme Court has honored this tradition by rejecting the Pebble Partnership's ill-advised attempt to prevent the people from voting on the SOS (Save Our Salmon) initiative."

 

Margaret Bauman can be reached at mbauman@alaskanewspapers.com, or by phone at 907-348-2438

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