In an hourlong interview with the Anchorage Daily News editorial board and reporters Friday, Alaska’s senior senator said special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 election should be made public. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, also said she’ll likely call for more public-comment time on a federal review of the Pebble copper and gold prospect.

The Alaska Senate majority recently conducted a poll to gauge Alaskans’ opinions on a wide-ranging set of issues. One question was whether Alaskans supported or opposed the proposed Pebble mine. Though the question assumed that “all environmental safeguards are met” for the mine, 61 percent of the 7,407 Alaska respondents still opposed its development.

I've been asked recently to review the Pebble mine project, which will soon release its Draft Environmental Impact Statement. It's what I've done professionally for the past 29 years, though I usually work on the company side, rather than for the environmental opposition. My specialty is water treatment: I design systems that cleanse polluted water during the mining operation and after it closes. Thus far, what I've seen of this project isn't pretty.

TOM DIMAGGIO IS 96 YEARS OLD AND BLESSED WITH A FULL HEAD OF NEATLY COMBED WHITE HAIR AND A WARM HANDSHAKE. A fisherman for his whole career, he’s been retired for over 20 years and remains a vibrant member of the fishing community – only these days, the community is far from the dock and instead gathers at the East Village Coffee Lounge in Monterey to while away weekday mornings, sipping espresso and swapping stories.

As commercial fishermen convene in Juneau this week for spring meetings and Sen. Lisa Murkowski delivers her annual address to the Legislature, we’ll be listening and hoping for clear indications that she has our backs when it comes to ensuring that our Bristol Bay businesses and fisheries are given a fair shake in the federal permitting underway for the proposed Pebble Mine.