Assembly approves lease for coal mine road

PALMER — The borough assembly voted 6-1 Tuesday to grant Usibelli Coal Mine an extension to its lease on borough land it needs to build a road to access a potential coal mine near Sutton.

The mining company is working to build a road now. But prior to Tuesday its lease was due to expire before the projected end of mining operations. So it came to the borough asking for an extension as a way of gaining assurance it will be able to access its Wishbone Hill coal leases for the duration of the mine. Right now Usibelli is in the exploration phase and hasn’t made a decision whether to mine the coal, company officials have said previously.

While only one assembly member opposed the lease, the assembly didn’t let the miners go without adding a number of stipulations to the lease:

The road over borough land must be paved as soon as Usibelli starts hauling coal.

The trucks hauling coal must be fully enclosed to keep any coal dust from escaping.

Usibelli must obtain $1 million in pollution insurance.

Tuesday’s meeting drew an overflow crowd too large even for extra seating brought in to accommodate it. A large percentage of the attendees came to the meeting after an anti-mine, anti-access-road rally in Palmer. When the demonstrators arrived, a much smaller group of people holding pro-mine signs were already in the assembly chambers.