Current Issues for Chuitna Coal
Petition Filed to Prevent Chuitna River Surface Mining
ACE along with local citizens and other conservation groups filed a legal petition requesting the Alaska Department of Natural Resources designate all lands within the Chuitna River watershed, on the western shore of Cook Inlet, as unsuitable for surface coal mining. A Delaware corporation, PacRim Coal, plans to develop the Chuitna coal strip mine, which threatens to destroy over 30 square miles of intact fish and wildlife habitat, including tributaries of the salmon-rich Chuitna River. Additional adjacent leases in the area could bring the total disturbed area to over 55 square miles. Because the complex wetlands and salmon stream hydrology in the region make mining and post-mining reclamation virtually impossible, local citizens and groups have asked DNR to recognize the region as unsuitable for intensive strip mining activity.
One of America's 2007 Most Endangered Rivers
On April 17, American Rivers listed the Chuitna River as one of the 10 most endangered rivers in the United States.The Chuitna River is under immediate threat from PacRim Coal's proposed Chuitna Coal Strip Mine Project. The proposed mine will destroy this wild river's surrounding watershed and dump billions of gallons of mining waste into rich fisheries habitat every year. The mine will also include a 2-mile trestle that extends into Cook Inlet that will affect both Cook Inlet Beluga and Salmon populations.
Media Event
Cook Inletkeeper, Alaska Center for the Environment, Alaskans for Responsible Mining, Chuitna Citizens Coalition, and locals from the communities of Beluga and Tyonek gathered at Elderberry Park in Anchorage on April 17, 2007 to announce the endangered listing and sound the alarm about what this mine would do to salmon and wildlands within the Chuitna River Watershed.
Read the news coverage about the announcement:
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Peninsula Clarion KTVA KTUU Channel 2 News |
Chuitna River makes most endangered list |
