More points about coal

To the editor:

Kudos to Roberta Mason for her thoughtful, intelligent letter of June 24. Having grown weary of the hysteria, exaggeration and outright lies of the anti-coal mining crowd — Gregory Gusse’s letter of June 26 provides the most recent example — I would like to offer a few points of my own.

First, if even half the claims regarding health concerns associated with coal mining stood up to scrutiny, I would be shocked to discover that I am still alive. Reviewing pictures of the coal fired power plant in the Palmer of my youth, I see black columns of smoke being produced in downtown 24/7. We lived downwind of the power plant, and made monthly trips to the Premier Coal Mine to get a pick-up load of coal to hand shovel into our basement to feed the water heater we fired up every morning. I remember being shooed away from the coal trains that went through Palmer daily for laying coins on the rails to be flattened and spreading coal dust on the snow in the spring to hasten the thawing of snow. At age 57, I seem to be in vigorous health — apparently I didn’t get the memo regarding the high improbability of this state of affairs.

Second, regarding the salmon runs up Moose Creek, it seems remarkable that king salmon still return to Moose Creek at all, given that the main channel was relocated in several locations to facilitate the railroad spur that ran to Buffalo Mine, in addition to mining done in and adjacent to the creek, with no oversight from any regulatory agency at all. Apparently these fish are not as fragile as some might think. Or perhaps the million dollars (in federal grant money) the Chickaloon Village so frequently reminds us they spent on restoring the habitat actually resurrected them from the dead. In any case, current regulatory oversight is so much more stringent than ever before in history, I have no fear that the fish will be significantly harmed.

Third, as to the alleged diminution of property values for those living nearby, a couple of thoughts occur to me. Personally, I would welcome any devaluation to my property that might come my way, as I do not like to pay property taxes any more than anyone else, and this is my home — I ain’t going nowhere. People who worry about keeping their property values high are obviously planning to sell at a profit and leave at some point. Employees of a nearby coal mine would probably be happy to work with them on that. I used to wonder what the people who bought property on Buffalo Mine Road thought when they moved there. Apparently, the thinking goes like this— “Now that I own some property here, everything for miles around is mine, too.”

Dan Lucas

Palmer