Coal mines and Chevy Corvairs

When I was a young kid, my aunt’s first car was an old 1963 Corvair.

Wow, what a car! The thing was gutless for power and all over the road for handling. On turns, it felt like it was going to flip over. We used to hate riding in it because we figured she was going to kill us in that thing. I’d get seasick just thinking about riding in it. The deal was, Chevy never incorporated a sway bar that year to help hold the car to the road. Not only that, but we’d get sick at drive-in movies because of the fumes coming in from the leaky exhaust. My aunt finally sold the thing, for a loss.

I think Chevrolet was sued a couple hundred times because of the accidents that car was in. Ralph Nader had a heyday writing about the dangers of that car. Chevrolet sales everywhere took a beating. In our family and across the country, Chevrolet was not a well-liked name partly because of everyone’s experiences with that model car.

Consequently, a year later sway bars were installed. In 1965, the engine and exhaust was improved and other size engines were made available. Who would have thought that just two years later it would become the precursor to the extremely popular El Camino. For the next 45 years, Chevrolet would go on to create great cars like the Corvette and trucks like the Silverado.

So where is this going? Meetings that I have attended over the past three years had produced a few people who view the coal mining that went on long ago in West Virginia and the coal mining of today in Alaska as relatively the same. We know that mining is not the same anymore, and that it is largely because of science and regulations. The practices of yesteryear are long gone with the modern sciences of today. Similarly, what Chevrolet learned in a few short years from its experiences with disasters like the Corvair was applied to future vehicles along the way, which are now governed by regulating agencies.

Working with Usibelli for the past three years has been good for the community of Sutton. Sutton invited Usibelli to its meetings, not with the intention to work against a much-needed industry for our state, nor to work against a company as reputable as Usibelli Mining, but as partners. Both parties attended in good faith, and the outcome was productive. Usibelli heard the community’s worries about noise and dust, and we feel the company is working diligently to mitigate those concerns. Usibelli has never closed its door to anyone wishing to talk about environmental concerns. I believe Usibelli officials treat everyone and everything with great respect, and that includes the land they mine on.

Sutton is an economically depressed area, partly because the mines shut down years ago. Usibelli has stepped up to the plate by hiring local surveying, engineering and construction contractors that are dedicated to using local employees for their projects.

Wishbone Hill was already mined years ago, and the mining project still exists today. Instead of bringing Usibelli to the discussion table for one-sided discourse, we chose to come to the table as partners with a true desire to work together resolving issues for the sake of the community members and the economic value responsible resource development has to offer this state.

The community of Sutton voted in favor of the mine because it believes the vehicles Chevrolet produces today are not the environmentally offending monsters the Corvairs were of yesteryear, and feels the same is true of coal mining.

George Rauscher lives in Sutton.