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Many villagers in the area want the jobs and improvements in infrastructure the mine would bring, but are at the same time leery of the potential environmental impacts.
Most community leaders are still holding back judgment on the project. Nels Anderson, a former legislator and Alaska Native leader from Dillingham, said he is still open-minded and wants to learn more about Pebble.
"The area you're talking about is my backyard, and it's near and dear to me," he said at a recent briefing on the mine project's progress.
Others are worried, however, including many who operate sport fishing lodges and other tourism-related businesses in the region.
Brian Kraft, an Anchorage businessman who owns two lodges in the region, has learned enough about the mine project to become very concerned.
"When you operate an open pit mine and expose those kinds of sulfides, there is a long-term risk of contamination to rivers which support salmon spawning for the world's richest salmon fishery in Bristol Bay," Kraft said.
Kraft is the owner and manager of The Sportsman's Lodge on the Kvichak River, which is south of the proposed mine site.
Kraft's major concern is whether mine developer Northern Dynasty and whoever the company eventually brings in as a partner will operate the mine responsibly, particularly in building a mine waste containment system safe enough to prevent contamination in perpetuity.
He's also worried that state and federal agencies will have the enforcement tools, and the will, to make the companies do the job right.
Bob Loeffler, director of the state Division of Mining, said his agency as well as federal agencies have the authority to deny a permit for Northern Dynasty if the mine design is found to be unsafe.
Loeffler also urges people to wait before making judgments until the company completes its conceptual engineering and feasibility work.
Northern Dynasty itself won't really know how the mine will be designed or whether it is even feasible until it completes its work. All of that will be public when the company submits its permit applications, Loeffler said. The company plans to apply for permits in mid- to late 2006.
Kraft said the risks of potential damage to the streams supporting the Bristol Bay salmon fisheries may not be worth the benefits. A former North Slope oil worker, he said that while there are also long-term risks with oil development, the benefits are huge, including to the $30 billion Alaska Permanent Fund. While mines do pay taxes, their economic contribution to the state budget is far less significant than that of oil.
Tim Bradner can be reached at tim.bradner@alaska
journal.com.
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