Protect our right to breathe free with clean air – not coal dust!
Take Action | Resources | Podcasts | Air Permit Website
We know that coal is bad for our health. Dr. Alan Lockwood toured Alaska and spoke about Coal’s toll on human health. Dr. Tracey Woodruff was up here in March and she was shocked to learn that a coal mine was being permitted next to homes and a school. The science is clear – coal is bad for our health – from mining it to transporting it to burning it to disposing of the tailings and coal ash – all of it, the entire process is bad for our health.
We need you to speak up and to tell the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation that Coal is bad for our health and to not permit the Wishbone Hill air permit for coal mining operations. To make it even worse – the DEC has repeatedly allowed Usibelli Coal Mine, Inc. to use 24 year old incomplete and outdated weather data as the basis for all of the modeling of potential coal dust impacts. Going to the original data – it says right in it that it is not allowable for use because over 40% of the data is MISSING. The wind must have gotten so strong in the first few months of the weather monitoring that the equipment failed.
Anyone living in the Mat Su knows about the fierce winds and the 9 air quality alerts just this winter from windblown glacial dust. Imagine adding coal dust to our already compromised air quality. Imagine adding coal trucks barreling down the roads next to schools – like Ya Ne Dah Ah school at the proposed mine entrance road.
Protect our right to clean air and our health! Say no to Usibelli Coal Mine, Inc.’s application for an air permit to pollute with their coal mine next to homes in the Mat Su.
Deadline has passed.
Resources:
Protect AK Health resources webpage by Alaska Community Action on Toxics.
Please visit the Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) website Code Black which documents the impacts of coal mining and use on human health.
The Silent Epidemic: Coal and the Hidden Threat to Health
In The Silent Epidemic, Alan Lockwood, a physician, describes and documents the impacts of the coal fuel cycle on human health. Lockwood’s comprehensive treatment examines every aspect of coal, from its complex chemical makeup to details of mining, transporting, burning, and disposal—each of which generates significant health concerns. Read more »
Coal’s Assault on Human Health, a medical report from Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), takes a new look at the devastating impacts of coal on the human body. Read more»
The What Com Docs told us about their research on how coal transport impacts neighboring communities and the negative health impacts on people, especially our most vulnerable – pregnant women, children, and our elders.
Podcasts:
The Toll of Alaska’s Coal: Health Impacts of Coal Export with Dr. Gilbert, recorded January 23, 2013. Visit the webpage for that call.
A local doctor outlined the impacts of living near a coal mine in her presentation: The Unhealthy Secrets of Coal and on her CHE-Alaska talk.