Coal protesters rally

PALMER — Protesters upset over the way public testimony was handled early last month showed up to voice their concerns at a Mat-Su Borough Assembly meeting Tuesday.

But some object to the methods they used.

The protest traces its roots back to a Sept. 6 meeting where the assembly passed a resolution endorsing the Wishbone Hill coal project Usibelli Coal Mine is exploring starting near Sutton. At the meeting, Borough Mayor Larry DeVilbiss limited the amount of time the public could address the assembly.

Anti-mine activists counted 34 people who didn’t get to speak. They say 15 of those showed up Tuesday to voice what they didn’t have a chance to last month.

Jamey Duhamel was one of them. She said she was next on the list to testify when DeVilbiss cut off testimony Sept. 6.

She said they felt like those opposed to coal mining hadn’t made a lot of noise so far.

“We’re still here and still angry,” Duhamel said.

Reached Thursday, DeVilbiss at first didn’t want to talk about the protest.

“I’m not going to condescend to even discussing that,” he said. “I don’t think it merits public comment.”

But eventually he said that the assembly listened to what people had to say during the portion of the assembly meeting set aside for the audience to participate.

“I respect their right to express their opinion. We respectfully listened to them even though there they were really crossing the line about civil communication,” he said.

But he said he feels the protestors went too far during a demonstration outside of the building during which, he said, they tried to disrupt the meeting.

“The business of beating on the windows and trying to disrupt the meeting was unlawful,” he said. “That needs to be known publicly. It was unlawful conduct.”

That’s not how the protestors see it. They say the police were called and told them the protest was lawful and so did the borough’s own attorney.

Reached Thursday, borough attorney Nick Spiropoulos said that’s actually not quite accurate.

“It is lawful for them to come protest. They’re entitled to make their voice heard, make their voice known,” he said. “What I don’t believe they’re entitled to do is to scream at the window and intentionally disrupt the meeting. The one gentleman who came later and spoke basically told the assembly they had done that purposefully so that the assembly would know what it was like to have to conduct business with a lot of noise.”

The implication, Spiropoulos said, being that noise from coal mining was going to disrupt the neighboring community. He said multiple assemblymembers said they couldn’t hear what was being said around the table.

“There was times that I couldn’t even hear what they were saying,” Spiropoulos said.

Kirby Spangler with the Castle Mountain Coalition, one of the organizers there that night, said that in the moment he didn’t realize that the banging and the screaming were going on. He said that he retrospect organizers should have policed them selves better in that regard.

But he and Duhamel maintain they have a right to peacefully demonstrate, he said.

“We were engaging in the democratic process,” Duhamel said.

She said that she appreciated when assemblywoman Cindy Bettine apologized for how the Sept. 6 meeting was handled.

“We came with a demand to be heard,” she said. “They conceded. We were heard — all of us. And we received an apology.”

Spangler said he hopes the protestors’ message was heard.

“It’s not about the mayor or the assembly. It’s about the impact of coal development on the Valley,” Spangler said. “Poor politics are one of the impacts coal is already having on our community.”

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or

352-2270.