Probably not gonna happenI have been following the Pebble saga since its discovery. Being pretty far removed from Alaska, all I could basically do was try to keep up with items in the news. Sometimes over the years there was plenty of news. Mostly it was about the controversy between mining interests and environmental interests.
Several years ago, I was able to fulfill a bucket list dream I had since I was a child. That being to go fly fishing in Alaska. Pebble was not particularly on my mind. Of course I knew that there was a perceived threat to Bristol Bay, and the outfitting lodge I stayed at was on the river that drains Lake lliamna into Bristol Bay. The lake is like an inland sea. There are many, many creeks that feed into the lake and each day we would fly into a different one in a 6 passenger Havilland Beaver. On one of those days, I happen to be flown in and guided by the owner of the lodge. The name of the creek was the lower Talaariq. It translates from the Yup'ik dialect to rainbow trout. Little did I realize until later that the creek was famous for its monster rainbows. I was fortunate to catch and release a couple of those. As I walked with John (the owner) further upstream we got a good look at the headwaters. Much to my surprise, he pointed that way and said "That's where they want to build the mine". He seemed to feel or know that I knew a lot about it.
I tell of this incident because I don't think the people involved with stewarding the natural resources in the area would ever stand for allowing the Pebble project to move forward. I may be wrong, and there are some diehards that are hanging on to the prospect of the mine coming to fruition, but I seriously doubt that it will ever happen.