Coal In Alaska
Alaska is known for its spectacular landscapes, abundant wildlife, and healthy salmon fisheries. But underneath Alaska’s salmon streams, tundra, and forests are vast quantities of coal. A new wave of proposals to mine Alaska’s coal to be burned in coal-fired power plants in Asia now threatens our way of life. There is no doubt that mining, exporting, and burning coal would have devastating impacts on the lands, waters, and people of Alaska.
Learn more about the local campaigns to protect Alaska’s watersheds and communities from the permanent impacts of coal mining:
Chuitna Coal Strip Mine
Salmon or coal? The Chuitna River is a healthy, rich waterway teaming with all 5 species of salmon on the west side of Cook Inlet about 45 miles west of Anchorage. PacRim Coal is proposing a giant strip mine – the largest in Alaska – that would directly mine through 11 miles of productive salmon streams in the Chuit Watershed.
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Wishbone Hill
Residential neighborhoods and open pit coal mines don’t mix. The Matanuska Valley is home to Alaska’s most productive farmlands and is the fastest growing residential community in Alaska. Usibelli’s proposed Wishbone Hill coal strip mine would operate within one mile from hundreds of families and threatens to turn this beautiful valley into Alaska’s open pit coal mining capitol.
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Toxic Coal Dust
Coal dust contains arsenic, lead, cadmium and other hazardous materials. Fine coal dust particles escape from coal trains, loading facilities, and mining operations and can enter lungs, contributing to asthma and other respiratory problems. The Seward Coal Loading facility is notorious for its coal dust problem, but that problem is spreading through Alaska.
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