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The representative, Bobby Andrew, president of Dillingham's Aleknagik Natives Limited, met this week with representatives from Goldbelt Inc., the Alaska Native Brotherhood and Auk Kwaan tribal elder Rosa Miller, among others in Juneau, to discuss seven Bristol Bay Native organizations' positions on the Kensington Mine lawsuit.

Seven Bristol Bay village corporations oppose the Kensington Mine's waste disposal plan because they fear it will set a precedent for Pebble Mine developers to put their rock waste in fish-bearing lakes in the Bristol Bay region. In their joint resolution, they said thousands of current jobs rely on clean water.

"This lawsuit is going to affect the whole state, not just this area," Andrew said during his visit Tuesday.

Juneau Native leaders called the Bristol Bay groups "pawns."

"We are particularly disappointed that these Bristol Bay Native leaders adopted their position against the Kensington Mine without consulting with us or meeting with us to understand our position. In traditional times, this would have been considered an act of war! However, in this new day and age, we understand that they have become pawns of SEACC, which is using them to promote their anti-development agenda," according to the Goldbelt-Klukwan-Kake Tribal news release.

"We would request that this message be taken back to Bristol Bay: We three corporations have invested a huge amount of time, effort and capital in order to be certain that opportunities for jobs and revenue are made available to our shareholders and to be certain that this would happen with minimal environmental impact. By working closely and continuously with Coeur Alaska, we believe we have been successful. We urge, therefore, that Bristol Bay Native leaders adopt a similar strategy in their own region and not allow themselves to become anyone's pawn," the news release concluded.

The document was signed by Gary Droubay, president of Goldbelt, Inc., Thomas Crandall, president of Klukwan, Inc. and Duff Mitchell, chief operating officer of Kake Tribal Corp.