newsminer.com

A spokesman for Ballot Measure 4 offered a clear declaration about what the initiative means.

“‘An Act to Protect Alaska’s Clean Water,’ is focused on preventing the certain disaster threatening the world’s largest salmon run — Pebble Mine. Nothing more, nothing less,” wrote Arizona resident Bruce Switzer in a guest opinion column submitted to Alaska newspapers this week.

On Friday afternoon, during a hearing of the Alaska Public Offices Commission, a lawyer for one of the initiative proponents contradicted that statement, with equal clarity.

“We agree that all new large-scale mines will fall under the initiative,” said attorney Scott Kendall.

So what does Ballot Measure 4 mean?

It’s as clear as mud.

Kendall argued that the state violated its campaign finance laws by creating a Web site this week with a detailed analysis of how Ballot Measure 4 would affect state mining operations.

The complaint went to the residents of Kodiak, Anchorage and Juneau who serve on the Alaska Public Offices Commission.

The APOC decided Thursday night that the state should pull its Web site temporarily, while a Friday afternoon session was an attempt to get everyone to agree on what the initiative means.

As I wrote here earlier in the week, I think the analysis by the three state agencies revealed the key defect in the measure, which is its fuzzy wording.

The hearing Friday reinforced that view.

The lawyers didn’t argue over the meaning of the word “is,” but they battled extensively over the meaning of “existing facilities.”

Had this measure been subject to the give-and-take inherent in the legislative process, the ambiguity could have been reduced.

One of the central disputes is the uncertainty that arises because the initiative says “existing facilities” of large mines would not be governed by its rules.

Kendall said the initiative sponsors think “facility” means an “overarching endeavor.”

(At one point, he said if Fort Knox builds an outhouse that would not be a new facility. I’m tempted to mention that an outhouse is a facility, but he wasn’t trying to be funny.)

He said that expanding a mine with new buildings does not meet his definition of “facilities.”

If Fort Knox adds some multi-million dollar structures, I would be surprised if someone doesn’t argue about the meaning of when something “exists,” triggering an existential mining exercise.

I have no idea what an “overarching endeavor” is, but Kendall said that Fort Knox, Red Dog and other mines can expand all they want and they won’t be subject to the initiative.

But if they open up a new mine 100 miles away from the old mine, that mine would be regulated, he said. He didn’t say how close a new ore body would have to be to be treated as an “existing” facilities.

The problem is that the imprecise terms sprinkled throughout the initiative have created a great deal of wiggle room. In the end, judges will decide what it all means.

•••

HELPING OUT: Friends plan to hold a spaghetti dinner Saturday for longtime Fairbanksan Dave Lacey, who has been having health problems.

Lacey, known to many as “Doctor Dave” on KUAC-FM, has long been a volunteer at the public radio station and is an authority on rock ‘n’ roll, among other things.

The spaghetti feed is at 7 p.m. at the Golden Eagle in Ester.

Call 479-8033 for information.

•••

GRID IRON HONOR: Ken Ulz was to be honored Friday night at the Lathrop football game as the latest recipient of the Fairbanks Football Forefathers Award. Ulz was among the most active volunteers in the early 1970s when youth football was getting started in Fairbanks, donating time and money. He coached and worked a lot behind the scenes.

The award, sponsored by Denali State Bank, was first presented last year to Paul Gavora and Don McCumby.

Ulz, who was known as “Truck” during his college football days at Michigan Tech, remains an avid fan of the Chicago Bears.