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For example, new regulations exclude nonmigratory sport fish and subsistence fish from the ban on mixing zones in spawning areas, Seaton said Wednesday.

Mixing zones are locations in a lake, stream or river where companies and utilities are allowed to dilute high concentrations of pollutants down to acceptable levels.

Seaton said his bill will fill the gaps in the new regulations and allow exemptions for activities like placer mining.

Still, the Alaska Miners Association claims the bill threatens the future of placer mining in Alaska. The mining association's executive director, Steve Borell, called the bill "a blatant attack on the mining industry." The restrictions in the bill may also harm villages that may need mixing zones in the future, Borell said.

Fishermen and other Alaska groups testified in support of the bill Wednesday. Some even charged that the bill didn't even go far enough in protecting fish.

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation - which created the new regulations - should be required to defer to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game or Department of Natural Resources for mixing zones in spawning areas, said Dan Dunaway, a retired biologist in Dillingham.

Several Juneau-based groups, including Oceana and the Alaska Trollers Association, are also questioning some of the state's changes to the mixing zone regulations.

"The administration's regulations are just wrong-headed and they've been stubborn about it," said Jim Ayers, the Pacific regional vice president for Oceana, in a phone interview.

Ayers said Seaton's bill would prevent harm to Alaska fish. He noted that the state's large mines haven't stated they have a need for mixing zones.

"This is special-interest regulations. The bill stops that kind of behavior," he said.

The Alaska Trollers Association submitted comments last fall to the state questioning the adequacy of the state's regulations, while they were still under review.

Some of the trollers' criticism focused on allowing mixing zones in spawning areas when spawning is not occurring. Different species have a variety of timing considerations during their growth. Coho salmon, for example, don't even migrate from their Panhandle streams for as long as six years, wrote Dale Kelley, executive director of the trollers' association.

Kelley added, "The fact is, even in the face of the prohibition, mining, timber, and oil have thrived in the state and most municipalities have found solutions to dealing with wastewater."

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation did not testify on the bill Wednesday, saying it would hold its comments for the next hearing.

House Bill 328 has already passed the House Fisheries Committee.