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Winds of Change Newsletter,
December 2005 See sidebar for table of contents
Not Nice to Wonder? OVEC's Abe Mwaura sent an
e-mail to new owners of a mountaintop removal operation. The e-mail
read, in part:
I'm writing on behalf of some of our members who live near Red Jacket,
W.Va. Alpha Natural Resources recently acquired a road construction site
formerly owned by a White Flame Energy subsidiary, Nicewonder
Contracting. Our local members are working to reduce the impact of the
strip mining being done in association with this road construction.
Nicewonder obtained a contract with the state to prepare the road bed
and retain any incidentally mined coal. This plan would obviously reduce
the company's overall costs. However, such an arrangement means that
Nicewonder is mining coal without the usual permits and without
regulatory oversight. This puts the community at risk of the possible
effects of unregulated strip mining, which include increased chances of
flooding, landslides, blasting damage to homes, water contamination and
dried-up or sunken wells. Such lack of oversight also poses a security
risk for the community and company operations, since there is no
monitoring of strip-mine-related blasting and therefore no monitoring of
the explosives.
The community has already experienced flooding that resulted from nearby
valley fills at Meador and, on the other side of the mountain, at
Varney. Recently a White Flame Energy valley fill failed near Delbarton
in Mingo County. People's wells have dropped as aquifers have cracked
and shifted as a result of unregulated blasting. As community organizing
proceeds we will undoubtedly discover other effects of this unregulated
site. These are potentially long-term production and liability issues
for ANR.
Nicewonder's contract is under siege from the Associated Construction
and Trades Foundation group of unions, which is legally attacking the
project on the grounds that the contract was not put out for bid, and
therefore illegal. The group sued both the state and Nicewonder, hoping
to void the contract on the road construction project, and have it put
up for bid.
Another issue is the controversial consolidated Mingo County High School
site that is apparently slated for construction on the same site. The
political implications of this are unknown, but could complicate the
contract, possibly causing stalls as this issue balloons.
Community members are asking that you would kindly raise these issues
regarding this site with the management of ANR during your Nov. 3
stockholders conference call. We would like to see more accountability
for the effects of the site on the surrounding communities. We would
also like to see closer monitoring of the explosives and blasting
associated with this site. We ask that ANR communicate openly with
people in surrounding communities regarding these issues.
Guess it wasn't nice to wonder to the new company if it would bother
to care about the people it affects. Here's an e-mail Abe got in reply.
So.... You don't drive? Isn't your real issue the road design or
alignment? Do small coal companies customarily dictate highway design?
Isn't it also miraculous that competing contractors have suddenly
developed deep concern on the under-regulation of business?
Are we safe in assuming that you are short the stock?
Are you able to name an active mining project that you support?
And exactly how close do you live to Red Jacket WV? When was the last
time you visited?
Regards,
John H. Hill, CFA
Analyst, Metals & Mining
Citigroup / Smith Barney
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