Don’t trade lifestyle for coal

To the editor:

Following is an open letter to Governor Parnell:

I am a two-time brain cancer survivor. I am on a listserv and communicate with other brain cancer patients all over the United States. Many cancer clusters are centered around the coal mines of West Virginia, where a charcoal-like substance continually flows out of the water faucets families bathe in. It is too contaminated to drink, so fresh water has to be brought in from other sources.

Health risks aside, there also is a loss of the subsistence lifestyle that has been a part of the culture since earliest recorded history.

So, for the health of the community and health of the fishing industry, please stay true to your campaign promise in not trading one resource for another. We should never trade wild Alaska salmon for nonrenewable, dirty coal to power China with dirty energy that will poison us in the long run every time the wind changes.

Frank Box

Anchorage