A proposed ballot initiative would require legislative approval for a large-scale mine in the Bristol Bay region.
The “Bristol Bay Forever” initiative application was sent to Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell for review earlier this week.
In the application packet, attorney Tim McKeever says the Legislature in 1972 acknowledged the cultural and economic importance of the region by establishing the Bristol Bay Fisheries Reserve to protect salmon from the impacts of oil and gas development. He says the proposed initiative takes these protections and applies them to large-scale mining activity.
A bill to that effect was introduced in the Legislature earlier this year but went nowhere.
The proposal does not specifically name the Pebble Mine though that’s the only project of its kind in the region now that would be impacted.
