Governor Comments on Funding Request

Governor Palin today released a statement on a $25,000 budget request from some lawmakers to pay for state government dissemination of information related to mining. The funds would be used to allow state officials to inform the public about Alaska mining, the stringent permitting process already in place to govern mining, and to provide data on initiatives affecting those mining activities. Read more

Pebble Mine questions state Habitat Division move

Juneau Empire:

The Pebble Mine’s would-be developers are concerned about the state Habitat Division’s current home in the Department of Natural Resources, according to a letter they wrote to Gov. Sarah Palin. “There is a perception that Gov. (Frank) Murkowski weakened state regulatory oversight when he moved the Habitat Division out of the Department of Fish and Game and into the Department of Natural Resources,” wrote Bruce Jenkins, interim general manager of Pebble Mines Corp., which wants to open a multi-metal mine in the Bristol Bay region of Southwest Alaska. Murkowski’s administration moved the Habitat Division to promote development of natural resources. In her election campaign, Palin criticized the move, but she has not restored the division to Fish and Game. House Bill 41, proposed last year and now being considered by the Alaska Legislature, would return the Habitat Division to its former home.

Read the rest here: Juneau Empire

Trade groups join PR tug of war

Homer Tribune:

 

As if things weren’t confusing enough with the powerful mining companies interested in staking their claim in Pebble land and special interest groups that are dead-set against them, now there’s an “anti-anti mining” group that seeks to drill the momentum right out of those mining opponents. Clear as molybdenum? Introducing: Alaskans Against the Mining Shutdown.

It’s no surprise that at the core of this effort to stall mining efforts are mining companies, mining trade groups, mine owners and Native Corporations that formed to protect those incredible mining potentials.Other founding members of the campaign committee include Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor John Williams, Kenai’s Bob Favretto, and a host of some 250 others determined to make mining work.

Read the rest of the story here: Homer Tribune