http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44940415/ns/us_news/JUNEAU, Alaska — Voters in a small southwest Alaska borough narrowly passed a measure blocking a proposed gold and copper mine that conservationists said would have threatened one of the world's premier wild salmon fisheries in a local election that gained national attention, pitting environmental and business interests on opposing sides.
The vote bans large-scale resource extraction — including mining — that would destroy or degrade salmon habitat. The measure was aimed squarely at Pebble Mine, a massive gold and copper operation planned near the headwaters of Bristol Bay and one of the world's premier wild salmon fisheries.
Pebble Limited Partnership, the group promoting the project, has argued, in part, that the measure would improperly bypass the role of the local planning commission. The office of Alaska's attorney general has said the initiative would enact an ordinance that is "unenforceable as a matter of law."
Jackie Hobson, a supporter of the so-called Save Our Salmon Initiative, said the results "prove once and for all that Native Alaskans will not allow important salmon habitat to be destroyed for the sake of enriching foreign corporations."
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