Beluga, Alaska Journal Entry
About a twenty-five minute plane ride from Anchorage, just across from the Cook Inlet, is the community of Beluga. You’ve probably never heard of Beluga. A remote village of fifteen people accessible only by air or sea, it does not have the tourist appeal of a Homer or Seward. Its lands are not federally protected like a national park or wilderness area. Nor does it make the national headlines like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Yet it should, because among its thousands of acres of marshes, wetlands, tidal flats and estuaries is the Chuitna River watershed and some of the most fertile spawning grounds for King and Silver salmon in Alaska. Home to moose, brown and black bears, mink, beaver, spruce hen, ptarmigan, eagles, ducks, geese, swans and myriad other waterfowl, the area is as spectacular and pristine as any to be found in the most remote locations of Alaska.
But, if the owners of PacRim Coal, a privately held company representing the commercial interests of Asian coal buyers, have their way, they hope you never hear about Beluga. Why? Because they intend to surface mine coal from the area for sale to South Korea, Taiwan, and other Asian countries where it will be burned to create electricity. Of all the fossil fuels burned to provide energy, coal is the dirtiest. And we’re all too familiar with the legacy of the coal industry destroying environments as they extract their black gold. Just ask the people of W. Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and other coal-producing states what the surface mines have done to their streams, wildlife, and health.
This big industry project, known as the Chuitna Coal Project, not only threatens to irrevocably alter the Beluga environment (including the endangered Cook Inlet Beluga whale population), but also the native Indians’ subsistence hunting and culture. Before we let our politicians from Juneau and Washington destroy yet another wilderness area that is “out-of-sight, out-of-mind,” we ask that you learn more about Beluga and the surrounding area. To help you, this picture essay, is one effort to introduce you to this beautiful habitat and its peoples and way of life that make Beluga worth saving for generations to come.
But, if the owners of PacRim Coal, a privately held company representing the commercial interests of Asian coal buyers, have their way, they hope you never hear about Beluga. Why? Because they intend to surface mine coal from the area for sale to South Korea, Taiwan, and other Asian countries where it will be burned to create electricity. Of all the fossil fuels burned to provide energy, coal is the dirtiest. And we’re all too familiar with the legacy of the coal industry destroying environments as they extract their black gold. Just ask the people of W. Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and other coal-producing states what the surface mines have done to their streams, wildlife, and health.
This big industry project, known as the Chuitna Coal Project, not only threatens to irrevocably alter the Beluga environment (including the endangered Cook Inlet Beluga whale population), but also the native Indians’ subsistence hunting and culture. Before we let our politicians from Juneau and Washington destroy yet another wilderness area that is “out-of-sight, out-of-mind,” we ask that you learn more about Beluga and the surrounding area. To help you, this picture essay, is one effort to introduce you to this beautiful habitat and its peoples and way of life that make Beluga worth saving for generations to come.