With all the attention and outcry focused on the proposed Pebble Mine, what’s sliding under the radar is the Great Alaskan Coal Rush.
With the far East clamoring for coal to fuel the Chinese infrastructure build out, and with Alaska containing one half of the coal reserves of the United States, and the shortest distance to market, we can expect to see a lot of pristine plowed under.
The proposed Chuitna mine and numerous other in-the-works coal projects would launch what some are calling the “Alaska coal rush.” Such an explosion of coal production would bring to the so-called Great Land an extraction industry that has devastated vast portions of the Lower 48. The effects would be many and far-reaching: from clearing out wilderness and infringing on the outback lifestyles of many residents to an acceleration of the epic disintegration of ancient glaciers brought on by warming climates. At stake are not only Alaska’s land and waters but also its allure as the country’s last true frontier.
Much of the proposed activity will be centered around the Cook Inlet near Anchorage. With the Chuitna Mine actually plowing through the riverbed – and the promise that the river will be restored via a man made facsimile after all the goodie is extracted.
The scientists who completed the analyses concluded that PacRim’s plan to strip-mine for coal directly through 11 miles of salmon-bearing streams would significantly damage local wetlands and headwater streams in an area 45 miles west of Anchorage. Restoration of the fragile and valuable wetlands and streams that feed the salmon-rich Chuit River would be virtually impossible, they determined.
More of the now-famous “It’s only one river” ecological standard – which has got us to the teetering point of Pacific Salmon extinction. “Texas investors” and Sarah Palin, “Drill, Drill, Drill” and be damned to you.
In all, eight separate projects are in various stages of review.
Half the coal reserves of the US and 100% of the Salmon reserves – and a lot of folks standing around shrugging their shoulders wondering, “how could this have happened?”
Tags: Alaska Coal Rush, Sierra Club, Chuitna Mine, Sarah Palin, China stockpiling commodities, PacRim coal, pacific salmon extinction, drill drill drill, Cook Inlet, Pebble Mine
Pingback: Pebble Mine? Single Barb Says How About The ‘Coal Rush’? « SwittersB & Fly Fishing
I dont think it is right to have a coal mine right next to Tyonek Alaska. Out of all places why there?Tyonek is Tebughna Peoples land and I dont want it destroyed over no coal mine. It will be Tyonek that will be destoyed first and have the most nagative effects
Interesting article. Coal has been discovered around the world too isn’t it? I’m not much in to these stuff but this article did get me thinking. Cheers