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The Empire reported on Tuesday, page one above the fold, that the Juneau Assembly passed a resolution opposing the supposed "clean water" initiatives.

What's that all about? One can't tell by reading the Empire's article. One side says the initiatives will affect mines statewide by imposing water quality standards and the other side says it's just something that affects Pebble. Doesn't seem like much either way, so why should the Assembly or anyone else care?

Here's why you should care. The initiatives are draconian. They say that a large mine can't use a host of things, including common battery acid. They say a mine can't release any of a list of "toxins" including copper - the stuff your home plumbing system is made of.

This isn't about dumping "toxic waste" into Alaska's waters as the Empire article hints. We already have regulations that prohibit that - detailed standards control. The initiatives say mines can't release any amount of dozens of man-made and natural substances. How much is that? One part per billion? Trillion? Gadzillion? The initiative says "any."

The initiatives say a large mine can't store tailings. Have you ever seen a mine without tailings? There is no such thing. This is a mining shutdown.

Oh, there's a grandfather clause for existing mines. If they already have permits, then mines are exempt. The trouble is, that doesn't work. Under the comprehensive regulatory scheme now in place, mines continually need new permits and renewals of permits. It would only be a matter of time until a major industry was shut down.

So what's driving this? The Empire story gives a clue - it's Pebble. Anyone who has opened a newspaper or turned on a TV in Alaska for the past three years won't be surprised. We've been bombarded with an unprecedented multimillion dollar ad campaign. Pebble's opponents argue that a regulatory system that merely considers a permit application for Pebble is broken. It doesn't matter how stringent the actual permit requirements are.

Yes, the initiatives would stop Pebble dead in its tracks. But there is much more. These initiatives apply statewide. They would stop the Donlin Creek project in which the Native corporation Calista has invested so much. They would kill a host of projects that NANA and Doyon have been working on too. Because of the partnership of Native corporations and mining companies throughout the state and the importance of mining in rural Alaska, this is probably the most anti-Native legislation to be fronted since statehood.

Why would anyone propose such a thing when we have a comprehensive regulatory system already? The answer: Bob Gillam - probably Alaska's richest man - doesn't want the Pebble Mine near his vacation home on Lake Clark. He formed the Renewable Resources Coalition and spent millions on a huge and misleading advertising campaign to stop Pebble. When Gillam couldn't get his anti-Pebble crusade through the Legislature, the Anchorage Daily News reported that he sent Rep. Jay Ramras, R-Fairbanks, to threaten the mining industry - disavow Pebble, was the message, or I will take down the whole industry with initiatives. This is it.

This is no crying public need. This is one man's hubris. (Anti-Pebble advertising consultant, Art Hackney, is an initiative sponsor. I guess someone not on the payroll couldn't be found - and Hackney picked up more work too.) So now we have millions in advertising to take down the mining industry and kill thousands of jobs all over the state just so Gillam won't have Pebble as his neighbor.

The Assembly is right. We don't need this. We already have clean water regulations that work. But beyond that, the initiatives are dishonest.

If Alaskans don't want Pebble, we should buy it out - not change the rules in the middle of the game and kill the mining industry statewide. In any event, it's not OK for one rich man to buy his whims at the expense of the whole state. No matter what one thinks of clean water or Pebble, I can't imagine that more than a handful of Alaskans believe it is. And, come Election Day, there shouldn't be more than a handful of votes for these dishonest initiatives.

• Eric Twelker is a Juneau geologist and attorney.