State issues coal permit

PALMER — The state has issued a permit to the Usibelli Coal Mine for its plans to operate a wash plant and coal crusher at the Wishbone Hill site near Sutton.

The state’s Department of Environmental Conservation issued the minor air quality permit on Tuesday.

The crusher will handle at least five tons an hour. The wash plant will remove dirt from the coal, thus making it ready to be fed into power plants.

Under the terms of the permit, Usibelli has to build a fence around its mine in areas where the vegetation and terrain aren’t sufficient to keep the public out.

The company also will have to cover areas it’s done mining with dirt and vegetation, “to minimize the amount of disturbed area potentially subject to wind erosion.”

The mine also will be required to cover its trucks, impose a 25-mph speed limit on mine haul roads, and use water mixed with calcium chloride, or magnesium chloride, to keep dust down.

Usibelli hailed the permit approval as evidence that it can operate a mine in Sutton without unduly impacting its neighbors.

“It has taken over five years to secure this minor permit, however, the rigorous requirements for a permit illustrate Alaska’s commitment to protecting public health and the environment,” company spokeswoman Lorali Simon said in a Usibelli press release.

Critics of the mine, however, criticized the state for issuing the permit in the face of “overwhelming opposition.”

“We have a large and growing community of residents fighting coal strip mines in order to ensure the Mat-Su Valley remains a wonderful place to live, work, play and raise a family,” Jamey Duhamel, with the Castle Mountain Coalition, said in a press release from that organization responding to the DEC permit.

Among the opponents of the proposed Wishbone Hill mine are numerous vocal residents of the area. Usbielli’s lease area abuts properties in the Buffalo Mine Road area, a quiet residential area north of Palmer.

Along with the permit issued Tuesday, DEC put out a 59-page list of answers to concerns raised during the public comment period for the permit.

One of those — also raised in the Castle Mountain Coalition press release — is that the meteorological data that Usibelli relied on was stale, having been gathered in 1990.

“There is no state or federal age limit for meteorological data,” DEC wrote.

Another objection: some of the data Usibelli used in its analysis of windblown dust was collected in Eagle River.

“The Eagle River site experiences similar source patterns for (particulate matter) and also has similar sources contributing to the highest concentration — i.e., windblown dust,” DEC wrote.

The mine project has been relatively quiet recently. The last big flurry of stories in the Frontiersman came in 2012.

Some had speculated that Usibelli was no longer interested in the project after a global dip in coal prices. The company addresses that in its press release.

“Over the past few years the market has softened, but Usibelli’s interest in further developing the Wishbone Hill Mine has not wavered,” the press release states, following up with a quote from Wishbone Hill project manager Rob Brown.

“Usibelli is committed to continuing the process to further develop the Wishbone Hill Mine,” Brown said.

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