Communities Beluga, AK
| Judy Heilman of Beluga, Alaska |
"The cost to Alaskans couldn't be higher"
Judy and Lawrence Heilman live 45 miles west of Alaska's largest city Anchorage, across Cook Inlet in the small community of Beluga, population 32. Beluga, and neighboring Tyonek, population 199, are off the road system -- the only way to reach these communities is by small airplane or boat. A coal strip mine proposed over local objectionDespite overwhelming local opposition, PacRim Coal and its wealthy Texas investors Richard D. Bass, Herbert Hunt, and the Hunt Trust are pursuing development of the Chuitna coal strip mine less than 10 miles from Beluga and Tyonek. The 12 mile coal transport conveyor and accompanying infrastructure would run within a few hundred yards of the residential subdivision in Beluga, inundating the small community with coal dust and the constant clamor of industrial equipment. A dangerous precedent for salmonStrip mining is inherently destructive and current plans submitted by PacRim call for the direct mining of 11 miles of a salmon-bearing tributary to the Chuitna River. This would be the first large mine in Alaska permitted to directly mine a salmon stream, a dangerous precedent with far-reaching implications. Additional adjacent leases held by PacRim, along with adjacent and nearby coal leases held by Barrick Gold Company, combine for 60 square miles of threatened wildlife habitat straddling the Chuitna River. "We're trying to protect our homes, our lifestyles, and the fish and game resources that we depend on. The vast majority of the residents of Beluga and Tyonek oppose a coal strip mine; it will destroy our way of life. We depend on intact habitats for clean water, healthy salmon, and the important hunting and subsistence opportunities that sustain us."
The ecosystem that feeds local communities would be destroyedThe local communities rely heavily on the health of this intact ecosystem to support their lifestyles. Tyonek is a Dena'ina Indian village where to this day they practice a subsistence lifestyle harvesting local foods. Rural Alaskan communities commonly harvest up to 35% of their daily caloric requirements, 60% of which is fish. Subsistence users tend to harvest in traditional use areas near their villages, in this case right where PacRim Coal wants to strip coal from the river's watershed -- destroying the delicate balance that sustains this healthy, intact environment. PacRim plans call for building a 2 mile long transport trestle and accompanying bulkhead island into the turbulent waters of Cook Inlet for loading oceangoing coal ships. The most likely markets for Chuitna Coal are Asian coal-fired power plants. Terry Jorgensen is a commercial set-net fisherman who fishes for wild Alaskan salmon just north of the Chuitna River; PacRim plans to store up to 500,000 metric tons of uncovered, unscreened coal just above Terry's fishing site. The coal transport trestle will require a gravel island to be built directly on top of existing salmon set net lease sites, fundamentally destroying these commercial fishing sites and permanently altering salmon and beluga whale migration patterns. How is this a good deal for Alaskans?
"If this coal mine is developed, the profits will go to the outside investors and the coal will go to Asian coal burning power plants. In return, we'll get fish habitat destruction, coal dust in our homes, mercury in our fish, and the heightened effects of global warming. How is this a good deal for Alaskans?" While the State of Alaska continues to shepherd this project forward, efforts to slow and extend the timeline have been successful thanks to the efforts of the Heilmans, Terry Jorgensen, and others who formed the Chuitna Citizens NO-COALition; the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement is now expected to be released in the first quarter of 2009. The cost to Alaskans couldn't be higher. Aside from devastating thousands of acres of prime fish, moose, and bear habitat just to feed the growing energy demands of booming Asian economies, this project would result in millions of tons of CO2 emissions while Alaskans are already suffering the disproportional effects of global climate change. Essentially this project will exchange the clean renewable resources that support and feed these communities for a short-term dirty, destructive resource that threatens to destroy the healthy environment, intact ecosystem and the very quality of life that make this area so special.
Thanks to Dennis Gann of Cook Inletkeeper For More Information
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The Heilmans have chosen to retire here, where Lawrence worked for the local electric company's natural gas power plant for 27 years. Lawrence bought property here in 1976 and hand-built the log home he and Judy live in today. This relatively undisturbed area hosts a variety of wildlife including moose, brown and black bears, wolves, beaver, mink, martin, and wolverine. Through the heart of this Alaskan wilderness flows the Chuitna River, one of northern Cook Inlet's most productive salmon rivers supporting all five wild pacific salmon species -- king, chums, silvers, pinks, and reds -- in addition to trout and steelhead.
