Group’s anti-coal signs vandalized

PALMER — A group working to oppose Usibelli Coal Mine’s possible coal mine in Sutton had some of its signs vandalized over the weekend.

The signs are yellow and black and say, “Protect our property, say no to Mat-Su coal.”

Heather McCausland, outreach coordinator with the Mat Valley Coalition, said the damage first came to light Saturday.

“It was targeted at a double-sided sign across from Fred Meyer which I was planning to remove this morning because we didn’t realize that it didn’t fit the sign ordinance,” McCausland said Monday.

She said the coalition had received permission from the property owner to put the sign up.

The signs were double-sided, built by attaching two one-sided signs to a plywood frame. A sign in Palmer had damage to both sides. After discovering the damage, McCausland said the group found another sign on the highway heading north had received similar damage, but just to one side.

“They only did one side of that sign, so maybe someone had driven by and seen them,” McCausland said.

Big chunks of the signs were sliced out; the bulk of the damage was to the “say no to Mat-Su coal” half of the sign.

Which, McCausland said, is evidence that the signs weren’t just some random act. Another piece of evidence was in the message that replaced the coalition’s message.

Scrawled in spray paint on the back of an old sign from a past gubernatorial campaign, someone wrote “Green Coal!”

McCausland said she was upset when the damage was discovered.

“Absolutely, but I do think it was very funny and humorous to see them writing ‘green coal’ on there. It’s such a silly saying,” McCausland said.

First of all, coal is brown or black, never green. But if “green” was used in a less literal way, it doesn’t refer to anything people are discussing in the debate over fossil fuels. Some believe the future lies in “clean coal” technology, though there is debate as to whether the idea is feasible or even possible. Perhaps “green coal” was referring to clean coal. But even so, McCausland said it makes little sense to her to refer to coal as “green.”

“Everything about coal, the entire process of mining it, burning it, shipping it to Japan like they’re planning on doing, not one part of that is a green process,” she said.

She said the coalition hasn’t talked to police yet. The signs were probably worth $150 each, so three signs essentially ruined represent a $450 financial hit to the group.

Handmade signs in Sutton have received no such vandalism.

McCausland said the Mat Valley Coalition is mostly worried about impacts to property values, but also believes the state and Usibelli are moving too fast through the permitting process.

“It’s a rushed process, we need more time,” she said. “It’s a highly technical issue and it’s very dangerous to our health.”

Usibelli spokeswoman Lorali Simon said that some realtors actually think property value near the mine will increase since workers will want to live near their jobs and that the mine can be a great neighbor.

As for the coalition’s concerns about the process moving too fast:

“‘A rushed process…’ that’s ridiculous. This project has been studied since 1983 and has been permitted since 1992,” with regular renewals every five years, Simon wrote in an e-mail. “‘The delay game’ is the opposition’s favorite maneuver.”

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.