State seeks comment on Usibelli permit

PALMER — The state is accepting comments through April 14 on Usibelli Coal Mine’s application for an air quality permit for its proposed Wishbone Hill project north of Palmer.

“UCM is applying for this permit because we plan to operate a coal processing facility, including a crusher and a wash plant,” Usibelli’s vice president for external affairs Lorali Simon wrote in an email.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation has already issued a preliminary approval of the permit. The permit and the various documents relating to it are available online at 1.usa.gov/1ha0w9s.

Comments can be sent to DEC’s Aaron Simpson at aaron.simpson@alaska.gov, by mail to P.O. Box 111800, Juneau, AK 99811, or by fax to (907) 464-5129.

Kendra Zamzow, a Chickaloon resident and an environmental chemist, testified about the permit at the Mat-Su Borough Assembly meeting Tuesday.

“We’re all aware of the high winds and dust that come off of the glacier,” she said. “These really have not been measured onsite regularly and they have not been measured in the winter.”

Simon has said in the past that a big part of how the company deals with dust in its current operation in Healy is through making sure the coal stays wet and thus doesn’t send dust into the air.

Zamzow raised a point a lot of people have in the ongoing debate about Wishbone Hill: the wind.

“We’re all aware of the high winds and dust that come off of the glacier,” she said. “These really have not been measured onsite regularly and they have not been measured in the winter.”

She referenced Usibelli’s plan to wet down the coal.

“That’s not really going to work in the winter,” she said.

Simon said that Usibelli’s dust control plan has met state standards.

“The permit includes adherence to a fugitive dust control plan. Dust monitoring requirements will ensure that UCM performs visual surveys at regular intervals,” she said in her email Monday. “UCM has demonstrated compliance with the ambient air quality standards in the permit.”

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