State renews Usibelli's Healy coal permit, raises cleanup bond to $7.7 million

The Alaska Division of Mining, Land and Water on Thursday renewed Usibelli Coal Mine's permit for the Two Bull Ridge Mine near Healy for another five years and raised the mine's reclamation bond about 42%, to $7.7 million.

The bond guarantees the land gets restored if the company doesn't do the work. It had stood at about $5.4 million. The division found the new amount sufficient to cover Usibelli's present obligations under the permit, according to the final findings and decision.

The current pits are nearing completion, the findings say. Once they are mined out the permit goes into reclamation status unless Usibelli chooses to mine other approved ground inside the boundary that hasn't been disturbed yet. Some reclaimed land is already working its way out from under the bond: 58.6 acres are in the first phase of bond release, 41.9 in the second and 32.2 in the third.

The 2,522-acre mine sits about five miles northeast of Healy in the Lignite Creek valley, on state and Mental Health Trust land. Usibelli runs Alaska's only operating coal mine, as Alaska News reported in June. Coal from Two Bull Ridge goes to Golden Valley Electric Association's Healy 1 and 2 power plants or by rail to other Interior plants.

Beyond the bond, the renewal adds no new mining areas and doesn't change the mine's boundaries or plans. No one commented during the public notice period, Aug. 14 to Oct. 5. Alaska News reported in August that the state planned to revise the bond. The state has issued two notices of violation under the permit, in 2002 and 2003, and both were resolved in a timely way, the findings say.

The permit was first issued in 1997, and this is its sixth renewal. Usibelli, or anyone whose interest is or may be adversely affected, can request a hearing with the Alaska Department of Natural Resources commissioner by Nov. 16.