Seward Coal Loading Facility

 Since 2003, the Alaska Railroad Corp. (ARR) transfers approximately 500,000 metric tons of coal, via railcar, from the Usibelli Coal Mine near Healy to the Seward Coal Loading Facility (SCLF) annually. At the SCLF, operated by Aurora Energy Services (AES), coal is offloaded from the railcars and stored in two 1000-foot stockpiles. For years, there has been a chronic problem with dust blowing off the stockpiles and SCLF conveyor system and settling on private and public property in Seward. Plumes of coal dust develop above ships and fall into the Bay from the chutes transporting coal to the vessels that transport the coal to Asian markets.  Coal also routinely falls off the conveyor belt that extends over Resurrection Bay to the loading dock.  But the pollution doesn’t stop there.  Due to failing control measures, coal dust blowing from the facility’s two giant coal stockpiles coats not just the water, but also charter boats and other vessels in the Bay.  In dry and windy conditions, the dust can even invade public health facilities, schools and closed and locked cars.  This ongoing dumping of coal debris into Resurrection Bay and uncontrolled blowing coal dust impacts water quality in the Bay, the health of local residents, and threatens the tourism industry Seward supports.

 

After over 60 days on notice, and years of complaints from local residents, the Alaska Railroad and Aurora Energy Services have failed to take meaningful steps toward fixing the coal dust and water pollution problems at their export facility in Seward. Left with no other options, Trustees for Alaska, a public interest law firm representing Alaska Community Action on Toxics and the local chapter of the Sierra Club, has filed suit over unpermitted discharges of coal into Resurrection Bay.