The company behind the mine proposal, Pebble Limited Partnership, hired The Keystone Center for the work.
Todd Bryan, a senior associate with the center, said Thursday the process dates to 2008 but was slowed pending baseline studies by Pebble. He said it's coincidental that the discussions were announced after the Alaska Legislature authorized a study.
Bryan said the center's process is neutral, aimed at publicly analyzing information to help people make decisions on whether or how to proceed with a project. He said panels, to begin Dec. 3, will include uncompensated experts.
But Tim Bristol, Alaska program director of Trout Unlimited, is skeptical that any process funded at least partially by Pebble Partnership can be unbiased and impartial. He also said he has yet to see anything to persuade him that a large-scale mining operation can coexist in a region that's home to a premier commercial sockeye salmon fishery.
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