Mar. 1--Alaska lawmakers this year are beginning to look deeper into the massive, controversial Pebble project.

The debate over Pebble involves a proposal to build one of the world's biggest hard-rock mines in the headwaters of the world's biggest sockeye salmon fishery. Many consider it a battle on the scale of the duel over oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

"It's an all or nothing question," Rick Halford, a former state Senate president who opposes Pebble, said in testimony Friday at a Senate Resources Committee hearing.

The committee held the hearing to get an update on Pebble from both proponents and foes.

The mineral prospect north of Iliamna, in Southwest Alaska, could hold metals worth hundreds of billions of dollars. It holds an estimated 72 billion pounds of copper, 94 million ounces of gold and 4.8 billion pounds of molybdenum.

The mining companies involved in developing Pebble told lawmakers Friday they are working on the most intensive environmental studies ever undertaken in Alaska. They are still a year away from completing that work, said John Shively, head of the Pebble Partnership.

The companies also need to figure out how to generate the same amount of power used by the city of Anchorage -- up to 600 megawatts -- in a remote area with no readily available energy supply, he said.

For now, the companies don't know if Pebble is a workable project, Shively said. The partnership planning to develop the project includes London mining giant Anglo American and the Canadian junior Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd.

All they are asking for right now is for Alaskans to hold off making up their minds about Pebble, Shively said.

But the project's foes disagree: Now is the time to ensure that Southwest Alaska's fisheries are adequately protected, they told lawmakers Friday.

"What if there's a mistake at Pebble? What does that do to the rest of mining and resource extraction in Alaska?" said Brian Kraft, a Pebble opponent who owns a sportfishing lodge on the Naknek River, downstream of the Pebble project.

The foes of the mine include commercial and sport fishermen, downstream villages, environmentalists, sport lodge owners and hunters.

Friday's hearing didn't include any talk of specific legislation, but it set the stage for potential legislative action this year on Pebble-related matters. There is a bill, proposed by Rep. Paul Seaton, R-Homer, to ramp up taxes for major mines. Plus, the project's foes are considering floating a Pebble-related bill, they said.