State attorney Mike Barnhill, lead attorney on the case in the Department of Law, said Oct. 30 that the appeal to the state's high court was to be made by Nov. 2.

Parnell denied the petition for the initiative June 21, arguing that the ballot proposition would be an illegal appropriation of state resources, which only the Legislature can do. Three Bristol Bay residents, John Holman, Jack Hobson and Luli Akelkok, filed an appeal to the state Superior Court in Dillingham to block Parnell's decision.

In his decision, Superior Court judge Fred Torrisi agreed with the plaintiffs that the state Department of Law, in advising Parnell, had made a narrow interpretation of provisions in the state Constitution giving citizens the right to enact laws by initiative.

Although the petition does not identify the proposed Pebble mine specifically, the initiative was the result of concerns about the proposed scale of operations there.

If passed, the initiative would complicate efforts to secure permits by Pebble's mine developers Northern Dynasty Minerals and Anglo American.

Pebble is a large copper-gold-molydenum deposit on the Alaska Peninsula southwest of Anchorage. It is opposed by a coalition of sports-fishing lodge owners in the region as well as some communities in Bristol Bay who worry that discharges from the mine could harm streams that also support salmon spawning. Salmon fisheries are an economic mainstay of the Bristol Bay region.

Barnhill said the lawsuit essentially deals with how far citizen initiatives can go in an appropriation of state resources; in this case the enactment of a highly restrictive law that would bar large-scale mines. Alaska's Constitution reserves this power to the state Legislature.

Alaska courts have agreed with this in a number of previous cases that involved efforts to appropriate rights to land or fish by citizen initiative.

In a June 21 memo written to Parnell, Barnhill warned that the law created by the initiative would apply to any mine covering an area of more than 640 acres, which would include not only Pebble but also the proposed Donlin Creek mine near the Kuskokwim River, as well as mines in construction like the Rock Creek mine near Nome.

It would also affect existing large mines as they seek state permits renewals. That includes the Red Dog lead-zinc mine in Northwest Alaska, the Fort Knox Mine near Fairbanks, and the Greens Creek and Kensington mines near Juneau.

Ownership of land at the mine is not an issue, Barnhill wrote. Donlin Creek, Red Dog and Rock Creek are on private lands, and the Greens Creek and Kensington mines are on federal lands.

Plaintiffs in the case, as well as the backers of the initiative, disagreed with the state's interpretation. They argue the initiative does not bar development of any specific mine, but only that the mines comply with new, more stringent standards for discharges of pollutants.

The plaintiffs also maintained in arguments to the Superior Court that the state Constitution grants broad powers to citizens to create laws by initiative and that the court cases narrowing those powers were in violation of the Constitution.

Barnell said it would be helpful for the state Supreme Court to clarify the constitutional issues.

Another citizen initiative relating to water quality regulation was cleared by Parnell for the gathering of signatures. A petition that also deals with regulation was denied after state attorneys advised that it is also partly an appropriation.

Barnhill said the state is now waiting to hear if the petitioners on that initiative will file a court appeal.

Meanwhile, the gathering of signatures on the Act to Protect Alaska's Clean Water is underway. Booklets were printed in time to get signatures at the recent Alaska Federation of Natives Convention in Fairbanks.

Petitions with a required number of valid signatures must be approved and submitted to the Legislature in January in order for the initiative to appear on either the primary or general election ballots in 2008.