Water ballot initiative fails in Alaska's primary election: mining industry cheers vote as tangible support for responsible development.

• Author: Liles, Patricia
• Position: MINING

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Alaskans voting in the Aug. 26 statewide primary election rejected a ballot initiative that would have resulted in changes to the State's regulatory laws overseeing water- and waste rock-handling in the development and operation of large-scale mine operations. Ballot Measure 4 received support from 71,759 voters, or 42 percent of the ballots cast in the primary election, while just over 57 percent, or 95,660 ballots cast, voted against the measure. The voter initiative was placed on the Alaska statewide ballot by mining industry opponents trying to stop development of the Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum deposit located near Iliamna Lake.

The vote came after a lengthy, contentious and spendy advertising campaign waged throughout Alaska that pitted a coalition of Alaska-based pro-development groups that included mining companies, Native corporations and business organizations against anti-Pebble and anti-mining opponents.

Initially, two water and waste ballot initiatives were put forward for consideration, but the coalition of supporters for the change in mining regulations asked in May that the more specific and restrictive proposal--previously struck down by a Superior Court judge--be withdrawn from the ballot.

Both initiatives would have required that State regulators write new laws overriding existing State and federal regulations regarding water-handling and release, and the storage and disposal of mining waste that includes overburden. Overburden refers to the tailings created after mine processing or other rock considered waste as they do not contain enough minerals to be processed economically.

EXPLORATION COMPANIES APPLAUD VOTE

After the votes were tallied, several companies involved in Alaska's mining and exploration industry responded with statements supporting the election outcome.

"Ballot Measure 4 and its proponents challenged the State's environmental standards and overall regulatory framework for hard-rock mining, and suggested they were insufficient to protect Alaska's important water and fisheries resources," said John Shively, president and CEO of the Pebble Partnership, in a press statement released Sept. 4. "Alaskans disagreed, and reinforced their support for the State and federal permitting process and existing standards for water quality and fish protection as the appropriate measures by which the Pebble Project and other mines in the state should be judged."

While the issue was decided by a...