About the Matanuska River Watershed
What the Coalition is Working to Preserve
Castle Mountain Fault and Earthquakes
Wishbone Hill Coal Mine- UPDATE!
We have recently learned that Usibelli is planning to mine coal adjacent to Moose Creek, between the communities of Sutton and Buffalo Mine/Soapstone.
Please visit the Alaska Coal Working Group website for current updates.
Join an active e-mail list to receive action alerts, by writing to coalcommittee@gmail.com.
The proposed Wishbone Hill coal strip mine is located approximately 5 miles west of Sutton and 10 miles north east of Palmer. Although there were some coal mining activities in the early 20th century, Wishbone Hill has become a landmark surrounded by residential communities in Alaska’s Matanuska Valley. Usibelli Coal Mine Inc. finalized the purchase of 7,434 acres of Wishbone Hill leases in 1997. The leases contain an estimated 14 million tons of bituminous coal, which Usibelli plans to sell to international markets.
Usibelli holds a surface coal mining permit for the Wishbone Hill leases from the Department of Natural Resources that is valid through 2011. Usibelli is in the pre-application process for an air quality permit with the Department of Environmental Conservation. Usibelli is currently in a permit renewal phase for a coal exploration permit for the Wishbone Hill leases. According to Usibelli’s Rob Brown, they plan to build a haul road to the mine site, conduct test drilling, and take a 5-10 ton bulk sample for laboratory testing in the summer of 2010.
Basic Facts:
• Wishbone Hill is located 40 miles northeast of Anchorage, 10 miles northeast of Palmer, near the community of Sutton in Alaska’s Matanuska-Susitna Valley.
• Since the 2000 census, the borough has been the fastest growing area of the state and among the top 40 fastest growing communities in the country.
• Commercial production of coal in the area began in 1916, when military steamships relied on coal, and continued through 1968.
• Wishbone Hill leases were purchased in 1983 by the Japan-based energy company Idemitsu Kosan. In 1997, Usibelli Coal Mine finalized the purchase of coal leases on 7,343 acres.
• There are an estimated 14 million tons of surface minable bituminous coal.
• Bituminous coal has an energy content of 12,200 BTUs per pound, a low sulfur content of 0.4% and an ash content of 9%.
• The Wishbone Hill coal is destined for international markets.
• According to Usibelli Vice President Steve Denton, if the test holes show promise, the company could begin a mine as early as 2012.
• Usibelli has also confirmed that there will be regular blasting and up to 100 double-bedded coal trucks a day transporting the coal to its destination.
Permits:
· Usibelli holds a surface coal mining permit for the Wishbone Hill leases from the Alaska Department of Natural Resources that is valid through 2011.
· Usibelli is in the pre-application process for an air quality permit with the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation.
· Usibelli is currently in a permit renewal phase for a coal exploration permit for the Wishbone Hill leases from the Alaska Department of Natural Resources. Public comment accepted until June 2, 2010.
· Usibelli is currently applying for renewal of their Mat-Su Borough land lease which provides access to the Wishbone Hill coal lease area. The Borough is now taking public comment on this application.
· For more detailed information about the proposed Wishbone Hill Mine visit: http://www.alaskacoal.org/learn-more/wishbone-hill/
· Visit the Usibelli website to get a preview of the blasting & realities of a coal strip mine http://www.usibelli.com/Mine_process.asp
COMMUNITY VALUES AND CORE CONCERNS;
Quality of life
Safety
Health
Security
Clean air and water
Love of nature and Alaskan way of life
Preservation of small town living
Economic Issues:
1. We support a diversified economy made up of sustainable and clean jobs such as farming, fishing, tourism, recreation, and local businesses that enhance the quality of life for all who live here and make this such a desirable place to live.
2. We encourage the Borough to invest in and develop long term, sustainable jobs that preserve our neighborhoods and enhance our quality of life rather than jobs that present a risk to public health and the environment.
3. A coal strip mine will make our property values plummet.
4. The Matanuska Valley Moose Range is an extremely popular recreation destination and becoming more popular every year. Alaskans enjoy the Moose Range for recreational pursuits such as fishing, snowmachining, hiking, hunting, skiing, kayaking, and mountain biking.
5. This coal mine will hurt tourism. When visitors come from out of state, they want to see the large cabbages we grow and our wildlife. They want to go fishing, and on wilderness hikes. No one comes to Alaska to see an open pit mine complete with coal trucks on the Glenn Highway, a designated National Scenic Byway.
Export Issues:
1. This Wishbone Hill coal is currently destined for export and will benefit Japan not the people who live here in Alaska. We have the most to lose if this mine is developed close to our neighborhoods and schools, and the energy of the coal is going to foreign countries.
2. When coal is burned overseas, we see the results in the form of ocean acidification and mercury pollution which has major impacts on our wild fisheries.
Health/Safety Issues:
1. Putting a coal strip mine in a beautiful residential neighborhood will degrade the quality of life, health and safety of our families.
2. 108 families live less than one mile from the mine site. These homes and families will be subjected to blowing coal dust, which will compromise our health; blasting and heavy truck traffic on the public roads will decrease the safety of our neighborhoods.
3. A neighborhood is no place for an open pit coal mine which threatens to pollute our water, dirty our air, and create a danger on our highways.
Truck Issues:
1. Coal mining will disrupt our peaceful and vibrant community with blasting, air, noise and water pollution, and hundreds of coal trucks hauling dirty coal through our quiet neighborhoods and roads.
2. We want our children to be safe at school and going to school; coal trucks will pose a risk to the air quality of our school and neighborhoods.
3. The mine could lead to future mining in the Matanuska Valley. The quality of life for communities throughout the Moose Range as well as the City of Palmer will be severely impacted by the heavy coal traffic.
Community Issues:
1. We value our close-knit neighborhoods and want to preserve our beautiful communities.
2. The coal strip mine development threatens our communities and Moose Creek.
3. These are neighborhoods worth preserving for the hundreds of families who already make it their home.
4. Our families came to the Matanuska Valley for the same reasons as all of you who came before us: for its pristine wilderness, magnificent scenery, to hunt and fish, grow crops, and because it was a good place to raise our families free from industrial pollution and the impacts of open pit mining.
5. We want to continue to raise our families in a safe, beautiful place.
6. We value the peace and quiet and beauty that surrounds us as others have before us.
7. Coal mining is a dirty and destructive business that will threaten the salmon streams of Eska Creek, Moose Creek, Wasilla Creek and the Matanuska River where we fish.
HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN DO:
-Write to Assembly members (see below for addresses)
-Write Letters to the Editor of the Anchorage Daily News and Frontiersman
-Speak at the Planning Commission meeting Monday, June 7 at 6:00 PM, at the borough building
-Show up at the RPAMB meeting Monday, June 14 at 5:00 PM, at the borough building
-Attend the Assembly meeting Tuesday, June 15 AT 6:00 PM, at the borough building. This is the day that the assembly is scheduled to vote on the land lease for the access road.
Decision Makers
Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly
Jim Colver 746-5300 (wk) 745-9845 (fax) Email: jimcolver@mtaonline.net
Cindy Bettine 892-8877 (hm) Email: cindybettine@mtaonline.net
Mark Ewing 864-0855 (hm) 745-9845 (fax) Email: markewing@mtaonline.net
Ronald G. Arvin 373-6685 (hm) 745-9845 (fax) Email: ronarvin@mtaonline.net
Pete Houston 354-6308 (hm) 745-9845 (fax) E-mail: akpete@mtaonline.net
Lynne Woods 745-4527 (hm) 746-6359 (fax) E-mail: aklynne@mtaonline.net
Vern Halter 355-1328 (cell) 745-9845 (fax) E-mail: vernhalter@mtaonline.net