Assembly should reject DeVilbiss’ resolution

To the editor:

Over the course of the past few years I have written on the mining I have known. I am not a Democrat or a member of the “Mat-Su Coalition.” I’m not even particularly opposed to mining, my work on and at Red Dog Mine is proof of that.

Nor have I had an opposition to Usibelli’s Healy operations. But I am opposed to this mine at Wishbone Hill and this type of mining, anywhere.

Now, I hear Mayor DeVilbiss has come up with a resolution for the Borough to not only support this insidious form of mining but to support this corporation directly on questionable grounds.

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall this Soviet style manifesto is pretty rare and it is risky, too. To codify the half-truths and some outright lies, to eliminate ethics boards, and in other ways shield your actions from the people and the law ultimately backfires. This type of document is not a cover but a blatant sign.

Let’s just go over the facts, irrefutable facts.

• The Jonesville area has been mined for coal for more than a 100 years.

• Except for the product, the mining technique proposed, “mountaintop mining” has no relation to the underground mining done before. Mining activities in West Virginia and Kentucky are not only comparable but are precisely the same as what is planned here.

• Usibelli coal mining company is a corporation. It is not a Mom and Pop corner store.

• There is no environmental conservation in strip mining. Reclamation is not restoration. Despite the Mayor’s claims: the works of God are always better than man’s attempt at recreating nature.

• It is likely that coal from here will pass through the Port MacKenzie leased to NPI LLC and they or he (the ownership of NPI is still not clear) will profit handsomely but the borough and its citizens are not likely to see anything from it other than the increased taxes.

• The onerous documents and permitting do not provide the oversight, nor protect the environment. Rather in practice they allow the miner to proceed until caught by third parties in illegal activities. Then the permits provide the basis for settling those claims. They are not a protection but rather they are used for retribution.

• The mayor rather than asserting questionable claims could have simply called for a resolution supporting Usibelli’s permit, if the borough is so inclined.

It isn’t a fact but a question: Why not keep it simple, who is being protected?

I have two other facts. The first was posed as a question three years ago when I first started researching this and no one has given one proven answer. The second comes from research into the costs incurred by the borough in Port MacKenzie and the exclusive 30-year lease of the port for less than a penny on the dollar.

• There is no place on earth at any time in history where a community has ultimately benefitted from coal mining…no place, no time. And it won’t happen here.

• The coal goes to Japan, the money goes to Usibelli and its stockholders and Ron Arvin’s successors at NPI LLC. It is our coal. What do we get?

I think there are other facts, health issues, property values, quality of life, the National Mining Association has even intimated that coal mining causes incest and other in-breeding but if we keep to the facts that there is no benefit to the community and there are a whole lot of extra taxes and costs: How can the Assembly not reject this resolution?

Gregory Gusse

Palmer