Larry Wood

Rebuttal to 4th of July Flyer about the Coal Plant
By Larry Wood
July 8, 2007

Upon returning home from the 4th of July parade held in Palmer, my grandson displayed
something handed out during the parade. The handout was a flyer decrying the MEA coal power
generation plant. My only dog in this fight is that my wife and I grew up on the east side of the
Matanuska River. She on Lazy Mt., me on what eventually became Smith Road.

I remember the coal train that took the coal mined at Sutton to the power plant at Ft. Richardson.
Gov. Hickel's natural gas killed the Evan Jones Coal Mine and ended the employment of over 60
valley families in the mid-60s.

What I resent about the misinformation contained in that flyer were the blatant half-truths and
misrepresentations.

For example, there was a specious claim that coal mining is a dirty business. Well, so is street
cleaning. Gravel mining, road building, on and on. Therefore, what was the point?

Ever seen the dust off the Matanuska or the Knik when the wind is blowing up those rivers?

Modern coal mining is not the coal mine of the 1860s, 1940s, or even the 1960s. Dust
abatement, health and safety regulations, and reclamation requirements of a modern open pit coal
mine are incredibly restrictive compared to those times. I note that the drafter of the flyer did not
bother to castigate Usibelli Coal Mine at Suntrana, near Healy. Why? Usibelli is known for its
safe operations and its attention to reclamation.

The blatant misrepresentation about mercury discharges are just that. Air quality standards will
not allow mercury discharges above the EPA discharge level.

The discharge from your car's tail pipe will probably be more noxious and harmful than the
fumes from the proposed fluidized coal bed power plant.

In the flyer was a picture of a wind mill and a short promotion for same. Oh, if we could only
install windmills at everyone's house. Well, without sufficient wind, that is a specious suggestion
at best. Further, the large megawatt wind mills are maintenance hogs and are not cost effective
without the taxpayer's liberal subsidies. Not to mention, the slicing and dicing of birds by the
hundreds of thousands every year.

Jim Sykes has waxed long about a geothermal alternative. According to Jim, we should just
build a road to Mt. Spurr, drill a hole, and we would have all the energy we would need. Of
course, Mt. Spurr is geologically active, and the last time it blew, I think we had about an inch of
volcanic dust all over everything and the airports were closed for a few days. You go right ahead
and build whatever in the shadow of that beast, Jim.

Gee, if it were that easy to build roads in Alaska, we would have roads to every village by now
except for the annoying fact that some moron from the Sierra Club, Green Peace, Trustees for
Alaska, Friends of Mat-Su, or AKPIRG would file a lawsuit to block the road from penetrating . .
. pristine wilderness. The folks who produced that flyer wrote with a . . . forked word
processor.

Jim Sykes also stated that natural gas is a better alternative to coal for the proposed plant. He
claims that the coal would be more expensive to mine than the natural gas delivered to the power
plant boiler. Andy Warwick, the head of ANGDA says otherwise.

Mr. Warwick stated that the NS NG would be too expensive for the power plant, and that it
would not be available for some years.

The coal mine will generate year round, good paying jobs. Same for the power plant.

Ask the residents of Suntrana or Healy if they want the power plant at Healy shut down or if they
want Usibelli to shut down the coal mine? The answer would be no. Further, I do not ever recall
anyone complaining about mercury discharges into the air, air quality, or reclamation issues
regarding the coal mined at Suntrana or the operation of the power plant at Healy.

It is time that the opponents of the coal fired power plant proposed by MEA be recognized for
what they are: greenies who do not care one iota how much you pay for power, or about the
future of this great state.