Protecting the Chuit River Watershed

Of all the energy sources, coal has the highest carbon content and contributes the most carbon emissions per unit of energy produced. Despite its contributions to climate change and the direct impacts surface coal mining can have on local environments, the use of coal as a source of energy is on the rise. Alaska, which has 40-50% of the nation’s proven coal reserves, has become a prime target for coal developers.

Just 45 miles across Cook Inlet from Anchorage, near the Native Village of Tyonek and the tiny community of Beluga, PacRim Coal – an outside corporation backed by wealthy Texan Dick Bass, owner of Snowbird Ski Resort – proposes to develop a 300 million ton coal strip mine known as the Chuitna Coal Project. If built, the Chuitna Coal Project would last roughly 25 years and be one of the largest coal strip mines in the world. It would cover about 5,000 acres and be the first large-scale surface mine in Alaska permitted directly on top of salmon-bearing streams. Roughly 11 miles of important spawning, rearing and migration habitat for all five of Alaska’s Pacific salmon species would be unearthed. In addition to destroying the local hydrology and permanently sacrificing important tributaries of the Chuit River, the mine would dump roughly 7 million gallons of mine waste each day into the Chuit River system and ruin important subsistence, commercial and sport fisheries. With over 2.5 billion gallons of mine waste and runoff dumped into the Chuit River each year, the mine waste ultimately would flow into Cook Inlet, affecting habitat of the endangered Cook Inlet beluga whale. 

In addition to the mine itself, a 12-mile long conveyor system would transport coal to the shores of Cook Inlet at Ladd Landing, where PacRim negotiated a sweet-heart deal with the Kenai Peninsula Borough to lease shore lands for well below fair market value. Stockpiles containing up to half a million tons of coal at a time would emit a toxic plumes of coal dust into the surrounding air.  PacRim also plans to develop a port facility, which would include a newly-created bulkhead island and docking platform that would extend two miles out into Cook Inlet and displace existing set-net fishing leases. 

Trustees for Alaska has a lead role in the efforts to protect the Chuit River and keep Alaska coal in the ground. Using the Alaska Surface Coal Mining and Reclamation Act, we stopped previous efforts to develop this coal field in the mid-1990s. Working closely with our coalition partners and clients, including residents of Beluga, local set-net fishermen and conservation organizations affected by the proposed mine, Trustees for Alaska continues to take affirmative measures to protect the watershed and those that depend upon it.

In opposing the most recent efforts to develop the Chuitna Coal Project, Trustees for Alaska filed a petition in 2007 to designate the Chuit River watershed as unsuitable for surface coal mining. That effort resulted in litigation when the Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources rejected the petition. The case resulted in a settlement, and Trustees for Alaska submitted a new petition in January of 2010. 

Trustees for Alaska has commissioned a series of expert reports that review the draft mine and reclamation plans, and assess the potential impacts to the fragile Chuit River and local wetlands from coal mine development. These reports [link to reports] unanimously conclude that development of the Chuitna Coal Project will permanently impair this important river system, with little hope of ever restoring aquatic productivity or important fish, wildlife and water resources to pre-mining levels.

In addition, Trustees for Alaska is representing local citizens, in their efforts to secure instream flow reservations in Middle Creek, an important tributary of the Chuit River that flows directly through the proposed mine pit and is estimated to contribute over 20% of the Chuit River’s coho salmon population. The applications for these instream flow reservations are the subject of ongoing litigation and seek to guarantee sufficient stream flow and water quality for the protection of fish and wildlife habitat, migration and propagation. These reservations will play an important role in protecting the cool, clean water that supports the Chuit River’s unique and abundant salmon populations.