The age of consent.

• Author: Woodring, Jeannie
• Position: Successful mine permitting

In these days of increasing environmental regulation, seeking public consent is a practical way to get a green light for a mining project. Here's how to get the communication ball rolling.

Right or wrong, a single citizen can mount a campaign to keep a mine from being developed. Fair or not, a small environmental group can file a lawsuit to halt mineral exploration.

"Mining finds itself ever more trying to justify its existence to an unbelieving public and a public that may even be afraid of mining and mining operations," says Bruce Campbell, special assistant for constituent relations in Lt. Gov. Jack Coghill's Juneau office. "We have to understand the public's concern before we can begin to manage our own business in a fashion that the public can understand."

Understanding the public's concern is not an easy task. Every community is different. In Alaska, where many towns got their start as mining operations, today's regulations and residents' objections can appear as a tangled maze too costly and complex to overcome in order to gear up a mining project.

But failing to address public concerns can put a strangle-hold on the development of new mining operations.

"You may not ever be able to please anti-development people," explains Kelley Hegarty, owner of a Fairbanks community planning consulting firm that specializes in community involvement strategies for large developers across Alaska. "But they need to get to a point where they're not working against you, and they cannot reach that point if you don't understand their concerns.

"Mine developers that ignore these folks in today's regulatory climate are not the mines that are getting permitted," she adds.

A TRADITION OF SPEAKING OUT

Americans speak out about subjects they care about.

And that's just one facet of American public opinion. In a paper to be presented at the Alaska Miners Association annual convention in Anchorage this November, Roger Baer, supervisor of the U.S. Bureau of Mines' engineering and economic section in Juneau, reports that recent research reveals several key American attitudes.

* Citizens believe in their right to participate in decisions that affect their quality of life or life-style.

* Americans tend to distrust information provided by developers, unless given a reason to think otherwise. They tend to believe that information from the developer is biased or one-sided to begin with. This is why many public relations efforts fail to improve chances for project approvals; and personal credibility of the developer's management is essential.

* Americans tend to think that expert opinions can be bought by whoever is paying the bill. So when environmental studies and designs are managed by the developer, or project consultants are brought in to inform the public...