Coal is dead, and leads to more death

To the editor:

I’m writing regarding the recent events in which Rio Tinto/Riversdale Alaska, the Australian corporation that is now planning on exploring for coal on a 10,000-acre lease in Chickaloon.

How is bringing a foreign company going to benefit Alaska? Honestly, I see no positive way (other than a short lifespan of revenue, of which the majority will go to Aussie fat cats) coal will benefit either the land or people of Alaska. All we will be left with is destruction and pollution. All we have to do is look at Mozambique; Rio Tinto is not known to play by the rules.

The majority of people who live near this lease are homesteaders and live off of the land. Are we willing to betray the very spirit that makes Alaska? As a new landowner just down the way from Chickaloon, I am outraged that this has gone as far as it has.

Thousands of families live along the waters of the Matanuska Valley and will be disturbed by the constant blasting, toxic coal dust and hundreds of trucks that will congest our roads. We have already started to see the negative economic impacts with banks denying home loans and Outside coal companies turning neighbors against neighbors. It is time for Alaska to look at the resources it has above ground for new capital and revenue. Coal is a dead energy and will only lead to more death.

Tyler Archuletta

Sutton