As the dust settles

Posted on: April 7, 2007 | Russell Stigall | 4 Comments | Print Article | Rate Post:

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For Seward City News by Carol Griswold

The empty Alaska Railroad coal train headed north on Wednesday, and the Yong Jia coal ship steamed back to South Korea on Tuesday, leaving in their respective wakes a lot of coal dust and unhappy locals.
At ground zero at the Seward Terminal Transfer Facility, dirty coal dust blackens the corrugated metal of the leaky conveyor belt cover, and neat, conical piles of sifted coal dust lie underneath. The remaining snow and recently exposed ground around the coal facility is black. In the harbor nearby, commercial, tourist, and pleasure boats are plastered with black coal dust, as are businesses in the harbor area and homes along the beach. A man-made disaster occurred here and people demand to know why.
During the 4-day loading operation, fine brown coal dust blew from countless gaps in this faulty delivery system and from the Big Dipper’s massive rotating jaws, coating cars, buildings, the ground and the adjacent waters of the harbor and bay. Clouds of dust billowed around the coal ship as the ship was loaded, creating a plume of brown coal dust on the water that extended for miles down the bay, winding through a feeding frenzy of kittiwakes and other gulls, sea otters swimming on their backs, sea lions patrolling for herring, and two humpback whales who amazed and delighted locals and visitors.
What did the boat captains tell our early spring visitors as they cruised past the coal boat, belching black diesel exhaust, shrouded in a cloud of coal dust? Hold your breath? When the tourists arrive in droves in a month, what will they think as they walk from ground zero at the Cruise Ship Terminal past the blackened ground along Port Avenue dragging their wheeled suitcases through coal dust? Our visitors will be outraged at the foul contamination of the waters and incensed at the coal dust covering the boats, and we should be too.
From February through April, the coal train unloading operation generated numerous complaints as the 100-ton coal cars were unloaded in winds far exceeding the recommended 15 mph limit. It soon became evident that the AKRR is unable to control the dust no matter what the wind speed; it was a huge problem even during the occasional periods of calm. It has been a continuing problem since 1985 when the first load of coal
was unloaded.
The Yong Jia is gone for now, but a towering pile of black coal remains, looming in the middle of our town. If the AKRR/Usibelli cannot contain their hazardous industrial product, they should not be allowed to store or unload coal until wind and weather conditions permit safe operation of their facility. Furthermore, effective and enforced containment measures must be implemented to contain the coal dust that escapes even during normal weather conditions, regardless of temperature and wind speed, from the pile to the ship. Our town and environment should not have to bear the health risks and costs of their industrial operation.

Sincerely,

Carol Griswold
Seward, Alaska

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