Chickaloon tribe fights coal companies, Mental Health Trust

CHICKALOON — Chickaloon Village Traditional Council is continuing its fight against mining companies possibly operating again in the coal-rich hills north of Palmer.

Its latest weapon to preserve the ancestral lands of the Athabascan Ahtna indigenous peoples of Alaska is a complaint they’ve recently filed against Usibelli Coal Mine Inc. and Electric Power Development Co. (JPower) with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OEDC), an international organization that serves as a corporate watchdog on ethical and environmental issues.

The complaint alleges that Usibelli’s exploratory activity at Wishbone Hill late last year was based on permit application information that’s more than 20 years old, “not taking into account the dramatic increases in population of the area in recent years, and that pursuant to these stale and misleading permits, UCM built a coal hauling road 100 yards from CVTC’s tribal school, Ya Ne Dah Ah, prompting safety concerns that were also not considered.”

In a press release, CVTC Chief Gary Harrison said the council has invested more than $1 million and thousands of man-hours to restoring the natural ecosystem of Moose Creek, a vital salmon passage, after World War I coal mining ruined it.

“Our efforts received substantial funding and won national awards from the U.S. federal government,” Harrison said. “Now they want to destroy it all over again.”

CVTC tribal citizen Kari Shaginoff argued that the Alaska Constitution and international human rights treaties recognize the tribe’s religious and spiritual connections to the land and its resources — rights Alaska and the United States governments are supposed to protect from the dangers of coal mining.

“Wishbone Hill and surrounding lands, rivers and streams are sacred to us,” she said. “Their bounty is essential to our Potlatch ceremonies and spiritual lives.”

Usibelli Coal spokesperson Lorali Carter said Thursday she wasn’t surprised by the latest efforts by CVTC to try to stop the company’s potential mine.

“This is a group that has said it will do anything they can to try to stop our project,” Carter said. “I want to remind everyone that the Wishbone Hill project has been permitted since the ’90s and any exploration work the company did last summer was legal under the existing exploration permit. What they’re saying about Moose Creek is ridiculous. Much of our permit exists to protect Moose Creek.”

Carter pointed out that Usibelli must renew its exploration permit every two years and its mining permit every five years, and that anytime they’ve had to make revisions to the permit, they’ve supplied updated data based on continued research on the area.

But CVTC Secretary Penny Westing said Thursday Usibelli has failed to provide a comprehensive health and environmental impact assessment on nearby communities to the state.

The CVTC also is on guard against the possible leasing of 11,000 acres of land in the Chickaloon area to coal companies by the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority. They protested at a recent Mental Health Trust board meeting in Anchorage where trustees agreed unanimously to remain open to coal company exploration.

Greg Jones, executive director of the Mental Health Trust Land Office, said Thursday his agency is obligated to its beneficiaries to get the most bang for the buck for that land.

“We are in the very initial stages of marketing the property,” Jones said, explaining that the Mental Health Trust has rights to the subsurface minerals, not the land surface. The state controls the surface land. “If coal companies find coal in a quantity and in a situation where they can afford to mine it, the royalty to the Mental Health Trust would be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. And that’s just our share. A coal company could make billions and the jobs that would create would be significant.”

He pointed out that the Mental Health Trust funds services for those with mental disabilities, chronic alcoholism, brain injuries and other afflictions. He said bringing jobs to the area would help alleviate some of the depression and substance abuse problems that can come from being unemployed.

Jones said he understands the Chickaloon tribe has a different perspective when it comes to the land’s value.

“We just have to reconcile that,” he said, adding that if there are significant archeological sites involved, the Trust would have to find a way to deal with it that would satisfy everyone as much as possible.

But Westing isn’t convinced.

“The Mental Health Trust is all about the almighty dollar,” she said. “That’s really all they care about.”

Contact K.T. McKee at kate.mckee@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.