"Pebble has said the advisory committee is designed in part to collect local ideas — even opposing ones — as developers move to unveil a smaller project than has previously been planned in years' past."  Pebble knows what the local ideas are already.  The "smaller project" sounds like an end run, toe-in-the-door move as any project in that region will still require the infrastructure of the original footprint: roads, ports, runways, etc. Once those are built, it's a foregone conclusion. I'm all for the studies, study the he[[ out of it, it brings in money locally, but I don't think any of it should be built.  It's foreseeable that the state should keep it's ear to the train tracks and begin to change how much it earns and collects from mining proceeds on mega projects, in the interest of the citizens of the state of Alaska.