Insular thinking weakens communities

On Nov. 3, five new members were elected to the Moose Creek Community Council Board. Four of these individuals live on Soapstone Road and one lives on Buffalo Mine Road. The area demographics are such that Soapstone Road voters outnumber Buffalo Mine Road residents.

The Moose Creek Community Council is now comprised of four individuals who live in the Soapstone area and one who lives in the Moose Creek area. President Brian Endle, Vice President Steve Renner, Secretary Rick Shields and Treasurer Jason Crumb all reside in the Soapstone Road area. All have taken pro-coal stances, as has member-at-large Marni Weiland, who lives on Buffalo Mine Road.

Ironically, the minority of voters — that is, Buffalo Mine residents — live within a mile of the proposed Wishbone Hill Mine site. Soapstone residents live three to five miles from it. Early on, a motion was made in which it was requested that Moose Creek area inhabitants cede from Soapstone, thus allowing these residents to form their own community council, but the motion was voted down by Soapstone residents. This was no surprise; after all, such a split would better enable the newly formed Moose Creek Soapstone Community Council board to make its no-coal sentiments known to the current Mat-Su Borough Assembly and to pro-coal borough mayor Larry DeVilbiss.

The question that the majority of Moose Creek area residents are now considering is what will be the consequences of having a pro-coal community council board? We’ve all been told we need not worry, that community councils are inconsequential local governing bodies. However, I think not. What I — and many others — fear is that the current borough assembly will mistakenly think those of us who live within a stone’s throw of the mine are for it.

For some time, all the members of the Mat Su Borough Assembly (Warren Keogh excepted) have been laboring under the illusion that we’re a backwoods community comprised of a smattering of rednecks and environmentalists. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The Moose Creek area is a community comprised of (among others) numerous health care professionals, a physical therapist, a local business owner, a lawyer and two college professors. We all relied on our specific areas of expertise in doing research on the deleterious effects of strip coal mining. Furthermore, our findings have been included in the most recent draft of the Moose Creek Soapstone Comprehensive Plan under sections titled “Green Infrastructure,” “Economic Development,” “Trails,” “Land Use,” “Emergency Preparedness” and “Community Governance.”

It has come to the attention of these highly educated people that should the mine go in, that the immediate area will change radically. Noise and air pollution will be a given, and property values will plummet. This is not an alarmist stance based on hearsay; rather, it’s one reflective of in-depth research.

Some have already begun looking for work elsewhere and others of us are weighing the pros and cons of following suit. (A con for me is that I’ll have to find a way to move two chickens, three goats, two dogs and five Icelandic ponies to the Lower 48).

Undoubtedly, it will be difficult to find buyers for our vacated homes, since no one in their right mind will want to buy property adjacent to a working coal mine.

What is perhaps most disconcerting about the recent elections is this — the majority won the recent election; however, they overtly dismissed the very legitimate coal-related concerns of the minority. Sad to say, but this admittedly reductive and insular way of thinking is the sort that weakens, rather than strengthens, existent communities.

Alys Culhane lives in Palmer.