Mine’s neighbors fear the worst

BUFFALO MINE ROAD — Sitting at the computer in the office of her bed and breakfast recently, Bonnie Zirkle called up a video of a coal mine blasting operation in Healy.

As she watched the tiny window on her computer screen, dirt and rocks fly high into the air, dramatically changing the shape of a ridge. Zirkle is one of a group of homeowners who live within a mile of where that same coal company, Usibelli Coal Mine, is studying the potential of mining Wishbone Hill.

“You’re talking a quarter mile away,” Zirkle said as she watched the dirt cloud settle down.

Lorali Carter, spokeswoman for Usibelli Coal Mine, said she’s watched that video as well, but doesn’t think it should be of concern to the people in the Buffalo Mine Road area.

“There are different types of blasting used in mining,” she said. “The conditions at Wishbone Hill are very different from Healy.”

The type of blasting in the video is what’s called cast blasting. It’s used when there is a lot of stuff on top of the coal that needs to be pulled out. The mine in Healy uses what’s called a dragline — a giant bucket tied to a crane — to scoop all that material out. At Wishbone Hill, Usibelli will use what’s called fracture blasting to break the material up just enough so it can be removed using traditional excavators and loaders.

Zirkle and her neighbors said she’s also worried about damage to her home. She quoted mine officials who said at one meeting they would replace windows when they broke them. Emphasis on “when.”

Carter said that quote has been tossed back at Usibelli throughout this debate. She attributes it to Usibelli Vice President Steve Denton and said his point in making it was to show how Usibelli does right by its neighbors and takes responsibility for mistakes.

“He was not trying to say that breaking windows was inevitable or even remotely likely,” she said.

Zirkle lives in the type of place where neighbors help each other. At a recent get-together, a group gathered around her dining room table to talk about the potential mine. Everyone knew each other. Jessica Winnestaffer brought her infant child to the meeting. The child got as much attention from Zirkle’s husband Dale and neighbor Alice Ciosetk as from Winnestaffer.

One issue on everyone’s mind — coal dust. Zirkle’s husband grew up in coal country. Cancer is rampant in mining communities. Coal dust is often pointed to as the likely cause, she said.

Carter said that coal dust is something Usibelli takes seriously.

“The best way to mitigate is to use water and we intend to use water during the construction of the exploration trail, certainly during mining activity,” she said.

And there’s another thing to point out — Usibelli has to get its operations permitted.

“Dust is controlled through the clean air permit and we have to meet the national air ambient quality standards for the permit area,” Carter said.

Still, Zirkle said, between Matanuska winds and the plans the company has to truck its coal from the mine to Port MacKenzie, she believes coal dust is a Valley-wide issue, not just for the mine’s neighbors.

Winnestaffer is kind of the group’s resident expert on Moose Creek, which runs by the mining claim. She said that in the 1900s coal mining essentially destroyed the creek. The Chickaloon Village Tribal Council, for which she works as a fisheries biologist, has been working to restore it.

“Their fishing info here is sorely lacking,” she said, pointing to mining documents. “There have been studies that show that any kind of high noise activity does impact the salmon eggs and cause them to die.”

Again, Carter said, water quality issues are things that are dealt with as the mine goes through the permitting process. Usibelli, she said, prides itself on playing by the rules. Neighbors shouldn’t think that the new operation will look anything like the mines of the 1900s.

“The way that coal mining occurred in the past is not the way that it occurs today. There are many more restrictions and protections in place than there was back then,” Carter said.

Zirkle and her neighbors said they’ve heard from a number of people who fault them for buying and building on a road named for a mine and yet not expecting mining to start back up in the area.

“We should’ve known,” one neighbor, Kirby Spangler said, summarizing a lot of what he’s heard. “That could be said about almost anybody that lives in the Matanuska Valley. Everybody that lives up here lives near coal.”

The perception, Zirkle said, is that she and her friends are newcomers. But that is not the case. There are people in the area who’ve lived there for generations and many more who have been here for decades.

“It’s been growing up here steadily for how long?” Zirkle asked her neighbors.

“Ever since coal mining stopped,” joked one of her neighbors, Pete Praetorius.

Spangler got to a bit of what it is that he and his neighbors fear they might lose.

“We’ve already seen people decide not to build in the area just because of the news that there might be mining in the area,” he said.

Later, the group took a short drive and walked around another neighbor’s property. The neighbor’s house overlooks the creek and has wide, panoramic views of Wishbone Hill.

Ciostek expanded a little more on what Spangler had hit on. She pointed out that just that afternoon Praetorius had been talking to Dale Zirkle about a wood splitter he wanted to borrow. She sold her truck to a neighbor. They all know each other and stop by to talk.

“It’s the kind of neighborhood that people dream about,” she said.

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