How do you rebuild a mountain?

To the editor:

The coal issue in Sutton will get more divisive as the hyperbole heats up. A few weeks back I read Larry Woods’ intelligent and heartfelt appeal, and today Roberta Mason’s letter.

Woods’ anecdotes of his youth were especially charming and Mason’s research of the past is compelling. And, we hear on the radio similar sorts of warm stories of mining in the Jonesville area. Sadly, beyond these idyllic memories the assertions of these good folks are just wrong.

The facts are, that what they remember and what is proposed have nothing in common but coal. First, we aren’t talking about underground mining. As much as underground mining is a questionable pursuit, unless overly subsidized, it is nowhere near the environmental evil of mountaintop mining. Even open-pit mining, like Usibelli works in Healy, isn’t as insidious.

Besides the absolute rape of the land with this infernal mining technique, total denuding and the filling of streams, gullies and waterways with tailings, there is the dust. As you might expect when you are literally blowing up and removing a mountain, there is a whole lot of dust — an enormous amount of not-too-questionably toxic dust. The dust and noise will be a new experience for Mr. Woods and the supporters in Sutton. Usibelli says it will mitigate the dust from blowing up mountains, but we know that is untrue because there is no mitigating technology existent, not in the whole wide world.

Also, there was a train in the “old” days. The dust from handling and dumping and reloading in Palmer, the fumes of 150 trucks and the traffic weren’t an issue 100 years ago, or even 50. A train makes a big difference. The people of Wasilla barely notice the coal moving through their community. It is not until it is dumped in Seward that folks take notice.

Also, when Mr. Woods was growing up even the idea of a D11R bulldozer was inconceivable. An earth-ripping machine the size of a locomotive that could flatten mountains would have been a nightmare to a young mind. This is another problem with Usibelli literature. As often as the company awards itself plaques for environmental restoration and talks of natural contours, how do you put a mountain back when you’ve taken it away?

We certainly can’t fault Usibelli for doing what it does, truthfulness and corporation are two words that are not often associated.

But we can ask our governments to protect us and to evoke the Constitution. It is our coal, not Usibelli’s. It is our mountain, not Usibelli’s. These are our children, our lives and our communities. Ask Mayor DeVilbiss, the Sutton Community Council or the Palmer City Council what is in this for us? Ask them what life will be like here in 15 years or so when Usibelli has gone away.

As Mrs. Mason points out, “each situation must be judged on its own merits.” We know what is in it for the Chinese. What’s in it for Alaskans?

Gregory Gusse

Palmer