Alaskans Reject Mining Curbs, Improving Odds for Huge Bristol Bay Mine

Alaskans have overwhelmingly voted down a ballot initiative that would have placed tough restrictions on new mines, improving the chances that a vast gold and copper deposit will be developed at the headwaters of one of the world’s most productive salmon fisheries. The measure, which would have prohibited new mines in Alaska from discharging pollutants that would harm the health of humans or salmon, was aimed at stopping the Pebble Mine at the head of Bristol Bay, where 32 million salmon were harvested in 2007. Many local residents and conservationists said that developing the mine — estimated to be the world’s second-largest mineral deposit, with 67 billion pounds of extractable copper, 82 million ounces of gold, and 4 billion pounds of molybdenum — would threaten the Bristol Bay fishery. But Alaskans, responding to an $8 million advertising campaign by mining interests, rejected so-called Measure 4 by 57 percent to 42 percent, with nearly 90 percent of votes counted.