Palin's Stand on Mining Initiative Leaves Many Feeling Burned

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McCain and Palin Continue on the Trail

Republican presidential candidate John McCain campaigns in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. Meanwhile, running mate Sarah Palin visits with world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

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"She says, 'I'm going to take off my governor's hat,' but the only reason the press was there was that they were called to a press conference by the governor," he said. "Being governor is not a costume -- you either are the governor or not."

Shively said it is "absolute balderdash" to question Palin's right to oppose the measure. Yet some other opponents of the referendum said they were surprised she spoke out. "I was delighted, absolutely delighted, but I don't know if it was the right thing for her to do," said Cynthia Toohey, who co-owns an Alaska mine and chaired the opposition coalition. "I've lived in the state 30 years, and I don't believe I've ever heard a governor come out for or against an initiative like that."

The same week that Palin voiced her views, Alaska's Public Offices Commission ordered revisions to an informational Web site set up by the state. The site stated that the initiative's proposed new regulations were "general and less precise" than existing law and that they might lead to limiting operations at existing mines. Initiative supporters said the Web site echoed the mining industry's talking points.

Mining companies are proceeding with planning for Pebble Mine and hope to apply for permits in a year. Discovered in 1988, the site is the largest gold and copper deposit in the country. Supporters, who include many Native Alaskan leaders, say the mine would provide jobs for struggling rural Alaska and note that mining yields $200 million a year in state tax revenue.

But the mine would sit on Bristol Bay, a fishing paradise where 31 million sockeye salmon worth $108 million were caught last year. Opponents consider it too risky to construct an open-pit mine, as well as the world's largest dam to hold mining waste, so close to the valuable fishing grounds. The defeated initiative would have addressed their concern, barring any new large metals mine from releasing chemicals that would damage salmon, a standard not included in current law.

Fishing employs more people than any other Alaska industry -- 12,000 mostly seasonal jobs in Bristol Bay alone, compared with 5,500 mining jobs statewide. But the mining industry has more lobbying clout. In the referendum fight, the pro-mining coalition easily outspent its opposition.

Mining interests have courted Palin since her inauguration. Northern Dynasty contributed to her inaugural fund, and other mining companies have offered gifts and paid travel expenses for Palin's husband to go on fact-finding trips.

Palin suggested in her campaign and early in her tenure that she would withhold judgment on Pebble Mine. In a campaign questionnaire, she said that "as part of a Bristol Bay fishing family myself, I would not support any resource development that would endanger the most sensitive and productive fishery in the world." In a September 2007 interview with the Anchorage Daily News, she repeated that "Pebble Mine will not be permitted on our watch" if it hurts the salmon grounds, but she added that "we can't go in there with a preconceived notion that Pebble Mine should or shouldn't be permitted."

Environmentalists saw a bad omen when Palin's administration urged legislators not to toughen a regulation that the previous governor, Frank Murkowski (R), had loosened to allow some levels of toxicity in streams when salmon are not present. Political strategist Danny Consenstein, a leader of the pro-initiative team, said he suspected that Palin eventually came out against the initiative to maintain her Republican standing in a state where the party has long supported the use of natural resources.

"This is kind of a litmus test," he said. "If you're against the mining industry, you're anti-Alaskan. She's a Republican governor, and she's got to show she's pro-development."

A week before the vote, Palin spoke with initiative opponent Mead Treadwell, the chairman of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission. He sensed that the governor was seeing things his way. "Palin said, 'I can't take a position, but if anyone asks me what I think, I'd say that I don't like it,' " Treadwell recalled. "And about an hour later, someone asked her."

She stated her opposition without warning Rick Halford, a conservative Republican and former state senator. A main initiative supporter, he had worked hard for Palin's election. The two had talked during the summer about Pebble, and "she was cautious and trying to figure it out at that point," he said.

Art Hackney, a political consultant and director of Alaskans for Clean Water, speculated that Palin may have been irked by complaints about the biased language on the state Web site. "It was her way of waving her wand, as she is wont to do," he said, ". . . and poof, undercut this effort with one fell swoop."

Staff writers Steven Mufson, Amy Goldstein, James Grimaldi and Robert O'Harrow contributed to this report from Washington.