Kerry
After speaking at great length with the attorney representing the current primary legal action against Pebble I have discovered a few things worth mentioning and have changed my earlier "Let the permitting system stop it" stance.

Our governor prior to Sarah P., Frank "The Bank" Murkowski (father of our disgusting senator Lisa), worked some tricks I was not aware of... The land Pebble sits on was designated as having no wildlife or subsistence value through a political game... To determine values for each aspect of the land they used a questionaire designed for coastal marine habitat. It did not ask about caribou and moose use, but rather asked how many walrus haul-outs there are (what, 100 miles inland?) and other marine life questions...


If they are willing to lie, cheat, and steal; buy votes and government support; immediately write off Talarik and Upper Talarik Creeks a little thing like working the system during permitting is not going to be any big deal. It is going to take a lot of pressure from every direction and public protests will be required, hang any and all costs.


The attorney I spoke with feels the end game is the important part or rejection will be met with new applications to address the objections. He suggests a buy-out is the only way to go... and because the possible shut-down of the project is very real the price should not be too great. The land is owned by the State and would probably require legislation to either set it aside, or money spent to buy the mineral rights by an organization designed to hold it without potential for development.

Anyway, I just flew over Pebble yesterday on a gorgeous day and there is a lot to lose. I fished the Kvichak for a week and caught lots of very big rainbows and grayling... It would be a shame to lose it...
art