Kinross federal application for Tetlin permit provides chance for analysis of trucking plan

Since the Dunleavy administration refuses to do it, the best chance for a real analysis of the proposed Kinross trucking plan from Tetlin to Fairbanks is with the Army Corps of Engineers process that is just getting started.

Peak Gold LLC, which is 70 percent owned by Kinross and 30 percent owned by Contango, wants to use the Alaska, Richardson and Steese highways to haul 10 million pounds of rock each day to the Fort Knox mill.

Through this permit process, members of the public can ask for a public hearing and an environmental review of direct, indirect and cumulative adverse impacts and for a consideration of alternatives. The impacts include road surfaces, traffic, bridges, safety, air quality, congestion and other items.

For more information on how to get these issues considered contact Greg Mazer at (907) 347-9059, toll free from within Alaska at (800) 478-2712, by fax at (907) 753-5567, or by email at Gregory.j.mazer@usace.army.mil.

Here is the complete application for the wetlands permit sought by Kinross. Kinross says its plan would require fill on 5.2 acres, mostly wetlands.

While the permit specifically deals with wetlands, the logic of requesting a review of the trucking plan lies in the statement from the Army Corps of Engineers that the decision on the permit will deal with “probable impacts, including cumulative impacts of the proposed activity and its intended use on the public interest.”

It is in the public interest that a review of the trucking plan take place.

Under Gov. Mike Dunleavy, the state Department of Transportation and Public Facilities is taking the laughable position that is has no role in transportation planning regarding the long-term impact of the proposal to use public highways as mining access roads for many years, perhaps decades to come.

The transportation department sent a mid-level employee to a recent public meeting to deliver this hooey. DOTPF Commissioner Ryan Anderson, who has already co-hosted a Dunleavy campaign fundraiser, certainly knows that planning is an essential element in the operation of the department.

Anderson’s department is acting as if it is a business partner with Kinross in this venture, not an independent agency looking out for the interests of the public.

Fairbanks legislators need to get involved to change that dynamic now.

Kinross and Contango have both hired lobbyists, for the first time, to work the Legislature. Kinross is paying Sonia Henrick $60,000, while Contango is paying Dave Parish $6,250 a month.

DOTPF and Kinross say the plan is to have the 80-ton trucks travel through Fairbanks via the Mitchell Expressway, Peger Road, the Johansen Expressway and the Steese Highway.

It’s not clear why this is the preferred route, given the age of the Peger Road bridge, the risky intersection of Peger Road with the Johansen, the congestion along the Johansen and at the intersection with the Steese. There is more to this than an alleged desire to “bypass downtown.”

It may be that the new plan for the Fort Wainwright intersection won’t accommodate the Kinross trucks or maybe the problem is with the Steese bridge over the Chena.

Meanwhile, the plan appears to be for the Kinross trucks to exit the Steese via the offramp at Chena Hot Springs Road and go straight to the onramp, avoiding the bridge over Chena Hot Springs Road.

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