To the editor:
I spent an unpleasant Sunday night up in Healy this week. Weather was sunny and warm and the window of my room had been open to the east, which also happened to be the direction of the wind.
Unfortunately, it is also was the direction of Usibelli’s coal mine three miles away. The overwhelming stench of coal in the air made sleep difficult, mixed with thoughts of what was happening to my lungs! If Usibelli develops the Wishbone Mine just outside Palmer, think of our winter winds blowing down the Matanuska Valley. Is this the future we want for our community?
Dan Heynen
Palmer
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Actually, several Healy residents testified to the MSB Assembly about the problems with water and dust near Usibelli's mine. They also testified about the Usibelli's corporation showing no concern over their waste water spills of toxic coal waste water into local streams.
Go anywhere near the old Wishbone mining sites, especially where coal fires are still burning, and it smells awful!
Usibelli's volume has not been "several million tons". By the time the trains reach our area all the loose dust on top has blown off. Have you been around the train as it leaves Healy - easy to find photos showing the dust blowing off like crazy.
And duh... Healy residents are very unlikely to subscribe to the Frontiersman, so of course you are not seeing comments from them here. Got talk to them and you'll learn that it is not all roses with UCM up in Healy (or Seward for that matter).
I've toured the Usibelli Mine while coal was being mined and transported. I was actually down in the areas actively being dug, and it had no smell. For 70 years, Usibelli has shipped coal right through the heart of Mat-Su, several million tons each year, and there is no smell. The overwhelming stench detected by the letter's author must have been generated from another source.
It's funny we don't see letters from people who actually live in Healy and complain. Just people with an agenda
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