Coal fight turns into media war

SUTTON — The fight over Usibelli Coal Mine Co.’s potential strip mine at Wishbone Hill near Sutton has spilled out onto the airwaves and other advertising outlets as the Healy-based company prepares to make a final decision on whether to operate in the area.

Sixty-second radio spots extolling the benefits or evils of a coal mine by Usibelli, the Mat-Su Business Alliance and the Mat Valley Coalition can be heard — sometimes back-to-back — on Valley Radio 99.7 and Country Legends 100.9.

Newspaper ads, website announcements and mail-out flyers also are appearing more frequently and prominently as the battle over the scenic, coal-rich lands north of Palmer comes to a head with the realization that UCM is finishing up its exploratory phase of Wishbone this summer after more than 20 years of research.

Mat Valley Coalition, a group of anti-coal activists who live within one mile of the possible mine or in Chickaloon where other mines might sprout, is running two radio ads that are particularly troublesome to UCM and two local banks.

“Most of what they’re saying in those ads is gross exaggeration or bald-faced lies,” Usibelli spokeswoman Lorali Carter said Thursday. “I just felt the need to clarify some things.”

Mat Valley Coalition said Wednesday it stands by its ads, which have so far cost the organization about $6,000.

In one radio ad, it claims Usibelli “is making a lot of big promises, but they get pretty quiet when asked how their coal mine will affect our property values. Homeowners don’t want coal dust, constant blasting and hundreds of coal trucks slowing down traffic on the Glenn and Parks highways. Plus, the mine will destroy our moose range and all of our hunting, fishing, shooting, ATV and snowmachining access that comes with it.”

Picking apart each statement, Carter said that although local media initially reported that Wells Fargo and Matanuska Valley Federal Credit Union had denied home and construction loans on properties near Wishbone Hill off Buffalo Mine Road, those lending institutions have recently made it clear they will not deny financing on property near the mine simply because of its location.

Wells Fargo’s regional manager for mortgage lending, Rod Jackson, said a loan officer had made a mistake when she told a client the bank could not finance a home because of its proximity of the mine.

“Everyone jumped the gun,” Jackson said. “There’s no mine, so there’s no issue. We can’t turn down a loan based on something that isn’t even there.”

Jackson said that if a mine does end up going in at Wishbone Hill, it will be up to appraisers to determine if the property is lendable.

“The appraisers are the ones who look after the values, not the banks,” Jackson said.

Wells Fargo Public Relations Manager David Kennedy sent out an additional statement Thursday that the email a loan officer had sent to a customer was “related to a specific transaction and was not in any way, shape or form intended to serve as a blanket statement regarding Wells Fargo’s commitment to mortgage lending in the Mat-Su Valley. Wells Fargo is open for business and we continue to provide mortgage loans in the Valley.”

Matanuska Valley FCU leader Al Strawn sent out a single statement: “MVFCU is granting real estate loans in the mine area.”

Neither Carter nor the Mat-Su Business Alliance would disclose how much UCM or the pro-coal alliance has spent on advertising on the Wishbone Hill issue.

“That’s such a strange request,” Carter said. “I don’t see how that’s relevant.”

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