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Cook Inletkeeper Energy
Program
Chickaloon Coal Project
34
Square Miles Up for Development
The Alaska Mental Health Trust
Authority put up nearly a quarter of the Matanuska Valley Moose
Range for lease in 2006. Vancouver-based Full Metal Minerals
leased over 22,000 acres of prime moose habitat surrounding the
quiet community of Chickaloon for coal exploration and
development.
The coal is proposed for export
to Asia, where it will be burned for steel refining. Most of
the mercury pollution currently cited in Alaska is from coal
being burned in developing countries across the Pacific Ocean.
The large and active Castle
Mountain Fault runs adjacent to the lease area. Recent studies
have linked coal exploration and development to an increased
incidence of earthquakes.
Consider the amounts of coal
dust that could be spread by our Matanuska winds... one such
example of this has already been borne out in Seward as a result
of Usibelli coal being stockpiled for shipment to Asia. Do we
want our children, elders and subsistence resources to be
likewise contaminated?
DNR has preliminarily approved
the FMM Chickaloon Coal Project Exploration Permit. The public
comment period ended February 28th, 2007. Afognak Native
Corporation is now in its final stage of due diligence to decide
whether to partner with Full Metal Minerals in a $2 million
deal.
Castle Mountain Coalition is
absolutely opposed to this massive project, due the short and
long-term degrading effects that such a project would have on
the local economy, residents and ecosystem.
There are 250 residents in the
Chickaloon area who have so much to lose if this project becomes
a reality. Eighty-five businesses are dependant on the tourism
generated by the unique natural beauty of this watershed.
Its time for the people of
Alaska to step forward and create an economy that is not based
on non-renewable resource development. We must put our
ecosystem, its residents and the visitors that it attracts,
first. The economic value of keeping our valley in its natural
state is enormous.
Please take
the time to familiarize yourself with the Castle Mountain
Coalition and our website:
www.castlemountaincoalition.org. There you will find out
how to help: who to write to, how to send donations and what to
do next.
Castle
Mountain Coalition Letter
Cook
Inletkeeper Letter
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