“The state says Ôno' (to natural resource development projects) over and over,” Irwin said.

Still, a state that wants to develop its natural resources will reconsider proposed projects, with design changes that will meet certain standards, he said.

Irwin reminded the crowd at the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce luncheon of the guidelines used by the late Gov. Jay Hammond for developing Alaska's natural resources.

“Is it environmentally sound, can it pay its own way, do the majority of Alaskans desire the project, and will it contribute to the permanent fund?” the commissioner reiterated. “Nobody should make judgment on Pebble until all plans are submitted and it is determined how it meets those four criteria.”

Irwin said in comments following his speech that mine developers are still two to three years away from starting the permitting process.

“They haven't defined their ore body yet,” he said. “We are not going to start (the permitting process) until they give us everything.”

The Pebble prospect, now in its exploration phase in Southwestern Alaska, lies at the headwaters of the Bristol Bay watershed.

Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd., a Canadian-based junior mining firm that has already spent millions of dollars in the exploration phase, has said repeatedly that it will have to meet federal and state environmental standards to proceed with the mine. Rio Tinto, a major multi-national mining and resource group, owns nearly 20 percent of Northern Dynasty stock.

Northern Dynasty also recently partnered with Anglo American, the world's second largest mining concern, in the jointly owned Pebble Mines Corp., to develop the Pebble prospect. Under the agreement announced in early October, Anglo American will invest $1.425 billion in Pebble development to earn its 50 percent share of the project. As of Aug. 1, Northern Dynasty had invested $177.5 million in the project, said its spokesman, Sean McGee.

Opponents of the project include a cross-section of commercial, sport and subsistence fishermen, sport hunting and fishing organizations, environmental groups and others. Their stated concern is the potential for destruction of the pristine Bristol Bay watershed, home of the world's largest sockeye salmon run, and world renown for sport hunting and fishing.

Veteran fisheries scientist Carol Ann Woody told the Anchorage Chamber in mid-August that nobody has ever built a mine of this size in such sensitive fish habitat.

Woody, a scientific consultant for Trout Unlimited and the Renewable Resources Coalition, said Alaskans need to take into account how the mine's need for water, the threat of pollution from tailings ponds, and potential earthquakes, volcanoes and floods could affect the Bristol Bay watershed.

Irwin, in his address to the Anchorage Chamber audience, said both proponents and opponents of the mine are part of the problem.

Irwin said his department has counseled Northern Dynasty “to focus on less hype and more evaluation. I understand junior companies have to hype to sell stock and that size is important,” he said. “But hype has served us not well. It hasÉ caused us severe problems in this state.”

Irwin said Northern Dynasty has been told to come to DNR with specifics about how it plans to operate and mange the proposed prospect — including water quality during operation — the huge tailings dams it proposes to construct and other details.

He also criticized opponents of the Pebble prospect, who he described as “certainly well funded. They are convinced they are right. Frankly, they are part of the problem,” he said. If they continue in this vein, outsider interests will think Alaska is encouraging anti-development, which will cause irreparable harm to the state, he said.

Irwin said that DNR has prepared an elaborate permitting process outline, which they plan to present, in conjunction with the federal Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in November in Anchorage, Fairbanks Juneau and several rural communities. “We are going to get the message out; that's our job,” he said.

“We must insist that Alaska has a fair process that is not biased,” he said. “We will go forward with resource development, as dictated in the Alaska Constitution, which also notes the importance of conservation.”

Carl Portman, deputy director of the Resource Development Council for Alaska, said he felt Irwin was “right on the mark. He clearly separated fact from emotion and clearly acknowledged that the permitting process will determine whether Pebble can move forward in an environmentally sound manner.”

Danny Consenstein, chief operating officer for the Renewable Resources Coalition, also attended the chamber luncheon.

“All Alaskans should be thinking about the impact of large-scale mining on the water quality and wild salmon right now,” he said. “If we wait for the permitting process to start, this dialogue, it could be too late.”

Consenstein said he felt that “in a way (Irwin) is trying to discourage public debate, and debate on these issues should be encouraged. Too much is at stake in Bristol Bay and for the future of our state to wait.”