Legislature Kills Pebble Study, Will Examine Permit System

A state-funded third party study of the potential impacts of the proposed Pebble mine has been shelved.

A $750,000 appropriation near the end of the 2010 legislative session inserted into the capital budget directed the Legislative Council to award a contract for an "independent third party scientific and multidisciplinary study of the potential large mine development in the Bristol Bay drainage."

The latest capital budget, now on its way to Gov. Sean Parnell after the end of a contentious special session, has reappropriated that $750,000 for a third party study of the "statutory and permitting requirements and processes related to large mine development in the state."