Views on coal arise at Sutton meeting

SUTTON — Coal continues to be a hot topic in the Valley’s northeastern reaches if attendance at a meeting on the topic Wednesday is any measure.

“It went pretty well. There were maybe 120 to 130 people,” Lorali Carter said of the meeting. Carter, who once worked as the face of Matanuska Electric Association, is now spokeswoman for Usibelli Coal Mine, the company that hopes to eventually pull coal out of Wishbone Hill.

The meeting was called to discuss Usibelli’s application to extend its exploration permits in the area. As such, the state’s Department of Natural Resources — the agency that will adjudicate that application — sponsored the meeting.

Mat-Su Borough Assemblywoman Lynne Woods, who represents the area, was also at the meeting and backed up Carter’s assessment that turnout was healthy.

She said from her vantage, opinions at the meeting seemed to be mixed. She said many who testified hoped for the jobs the project would bring. Some even expressed the opinion that the coal should stay in Alaska, for Alaskans to use, rather than be exported.

Robert Brown, Usibelli’s Wishbone Hill project manager, said he gets daily visits in his Palmer office from people hoping to work at the mine if and when it opens. He even had one potential job-seeker spot him as he drove through the Valley and follow him to where he stopped.

But, of course, Wednesday’s crowd didn’t contain only supporters.

“The opposition was there because there are 105 families that live within one mile of the mining area, and that’s real close,” Woods said. “I couldn’t say if it was 50-50, but one side would clap when someone spoke to their views and others would clap to theirs.”

Wood said the opposition is concerned about noise, traffic and coal dust. Some, of course, are opposed to coal on principal since its burning is a source of air pollution.

Bonnie Zirkle, who, with her husband, owns a bed and breakfast in the Buffalo Mine Road area, is among those 105 families Woods mentioned, though Zirkle puts the number at 109. She counts herself among the opposition and says following the regulatory process and making sure she puts in her two cents along the way has lately consumed her life and her husband’s. As for why she opposes the mine; she said she’s studied coal dust and thinks it will negatively impact the health of her and her neighbors.

“There is absolutely nothing they can do to prevent coal dust from going in the air. They can cover trucks. But when you blast and the winds that we get up here, you cannot prevent coal dust from going in the air,” she said.

Brown said there are a couple of issues coming up in the near term. First is the DNR exploration permit. Brown said the plan is to drill up to 20 test holes in the area over the next two years.

The second permit has to do with how to access the area. Brown said Usibelli could, in theory at least, get to the land on which it holds coal leases using Buffalo Mine Road. But the company would prefer something less disruptive to locals, so it wants to punch through an “exploration trail” from the Glenn Highway.

That trail, he said, would be private, gated and just accessible enough to accommodate four-wheel-drive trucks and the drilling rig the company plans to use.

But to do that, the company needs to traverse borough land. It currently has permission to do that for five years. But the plan is to apply to extend that permit. Usibelli will talk to the borough assembly to ask for that extension, probably in early May.

Still, Brown said, even if the borough denies that access, Usibelli can build its road and use it to explore the site without disrupting traffic on Buffalo Mine Road.

Carter said having a longer term permit is good business.

“Part of being a responsible company and making proper business decisions is making sure you have access to your leases,” she said.

Only the last stretch of the proposed trail crosses borough land.

“Really, what we’re talking about is 60 acres, really it’s a half a mile of a road that we want to put in to minimize the impact on people who live on Buffalo Mine Road,” Carter said.

But Zirkle said she opposes the trail as well. She said the proposed trail has neighbors, some of whom never thought they’d be living next to a road. And, anyway, she disputes that using the access road would be all that safe, considering the trucks would have to enter the highway from a dead stop.

Woods, for her part, didn’t express an opinion on the idea of having a coal mine in Sutton. Indeed, she said, that’s not really her call. Whether Usibelli should be given a mining permit is a decision that is up to DNR Commissioner Tom Irwin.

“I can’t stop that decision, but what I can do is work real hard to see that the negative impacts are minimized for residents. And that’s what I’m doing,” she said. “I want to make sure that if there is a project that it’s the best project we can get.”

That question of if there will be a project is still unanswered. Brown said it is Usibelli’s intent to extract coal. It’s a goal the company is working toward and hopes to achieve, but there is a big caveat.

“The right conditions have to be there,” Brown said. The world market for coal has to offer up a price that makes the project worthwhile. “We believe that it’s a good project, but it basically comes down to whether or not you can find a place to send the coal.”

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