By Margaret Bauman
Alaska Journal of Commerce

Proposed legislation from Rep. Bryce Edgmon, D-Dillingham, seen by some as protection for Alaska fisheries — and by others as a threat to mining — has its roots in Jay Hammond's 1972 bill to protect Bristol Bay fisheries from oil and gas development.

Legislation introduced by Hammond to create the Bristol Bay Fisheries Reserve was designed to stop oil drilling in Bristol Bay by imposing environmental requirements so excessive that oil companies would not bid on leases. The move worked, said Hammond's longtime friend Clem Tillion, who served in the Legislature with Hammond and later as director of international fisheries during Hammond's second term as governor.

“The legislation essentially short-stopped leases before they were even bid,” Tillion said.

Now, with the potential of Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. applying for permits on its massive Pebble project, a copper-gold-molybdenum mining venture at the headwaters of the Bristol Bay watershed, some legislators are backing measures to more specifically protect the rich salmon and trout fisheries from what they see as potential environmental disaster.

Edgmon is one of five sponsors of House Bill 134, the Alaska Wild Salmon Protection Act.

House Bill 134 “would stipulate that salmon comes first, regardless of what kind of development activity takes place,” in the watersheds of the Nushagak, Kvichak, Naknek, Egegik and Ugashik rivers, said Edgmon, a lifelong Bristol Bay resident.

“Our bill is geared toward protection of our salmon species in that area,” Edgmon said in an interview Feb. 16. “If any development activity out there can meet that level of protection, then we have achieved our goal of protecting salmon.”

Edgmon's staff said they are working on a committee substitute to the bill to be sure nothing critical was left out of an expanded list of exceptions regarding activities allowed in salmon habitat waters.

Edgmon's bill and Senate Bill 67, which would create the Jay Hammond State Game Refuge, has drawn criticism from supporters of the Pebble project.

On Jan. 21, Northern Dynasty released another mineral exploration report, stating that Pebble East could contain 3.4 billion tons of ore with 42.6 billion pounds of copper, 39.6 million ounces of gold and 2.7 billion pounds of molybdenum. Northern Dynasty has also identified what it says are significant mineral deposits in nearby Pebble West.

Former legislator Gail Phillips, co-chair of Truth About Pebble, a citizens group supporting the mine, issued a statement saying both pieces of legislation “are intended to stop the Pebble project before it even applies for permits under Alaska law.”

In a statement issued Feb. 19 by Truth About Pebble, Rep. Richard Foster, D-Nome, said he feels the work that the organization is undertaking is important in the debate about mining in Alaska.

“I'm 100 percent behind Pebble being afforded the opportunity to go through the process, because to do anything less sends absolutely the wrong message to businesses that want to come here and invest in Alaska's future,” said Foster, a new member of the board.

“About 70 percent of the land in Southwest Alaska is already locked up in parks and preserves, wildlife refuges, wilderness areas and the like,” Phillips said. “Now we're being told we need another 7 (million-) to 8 million-acre game refuge and new conservation measures for millions of additional acres.”

Edgmon doesn't see it that way.

Edgmon said most residents of the Bristol Bay region, renown for its wild Alaska salmon fisheries and wildlife, are fearful that the proposed Pebble mine will cause irreparable damage to the ecosystem. “Even those who are more cautious and would like to see the permitting process go through say that the mine cannot in any way harm our fisheries,” he said.

Responding to arguments made by Truth About Pebble that the region is in dire need of economic opportunity, Edgmon said there is a need for lower energy costs and more transportation infrastructure, but that the fisheries must not be damaged in the process.

Northern Dynasty Mines, a Canadian firm that hopes to develop the Pebble prospect, has already spent millions of dollars on exploration of its claim, but has not yet applied for permits. Spokesmen for Northern Dynasty argue that all they are asking for is due process.

Tillion, a close friend of the Hammond family, said he and Hammond spoke about the Pebble prospect just four days before the former governor's death on Aug. 2, 2005.

“He said he wished the copper hadn't been found there, but that's where it is,” Tillion said. Tillion said the late governor wasn't worried that the state couldn't make the mining company keep it clean; he was worried that it wouldn't.

Hammond was worried that in its thirst for economic activity, the state would not hold out for a good price in mineral royalties, which would go to the Alaska Permanent Fund, he said.

Hammond also felt that unless Pebble paid its way through state taxes and royalties, and was environmentally sound, he would oppose it, Tillion said. “He would have been as tough as hell on the environmental safeguards and the price, and if that's what stops it, that would be a legitimate stop.”

Tillion, now a consultant for the Aleut Enterprise Corp. on fisheries, said unless such a mining project puts a big chunk of money into the permanent fund for Alaska residents to share, he's not buying it either.

Tillion said the danger he sees in the proposed mine is not at the start, but much later. “To get past the people, they will have to do a very environmentally sound beginning,” he said. “My fear is that 40 to 50 years from now, when the mine is in danger of closing down, by relaxing some of the environmental safeguards, they can keep going a few more years.”

Margaret Bauman can be reached at margie.bauman@alaskajournal.com.