Citizens' group seeks preliminary injunction to put brakes on Kinross ore-hauling operation

Citing a host of transportation regulation violations by the state, the Committee for Safe Communities is seeking a preliminary injunction, pending a trial, to decide if the Kinross ore-haul plan “can ever go forward in light of public nuisance laws, general public safety and particularly the safety of our children.”

The group has asked Fairbanks Superior Court Judge Patricia Haines to temporarily stop the ore-hauling operation because of dangers to the traveling public.

“Public opinion has not stopped AKDOT (Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities) from approving this project in spite of its own regulations forbidding trucks of this size and weight from using the Tetlin to Fairbanks highway corridor without special study, review and permitting (if at all.),” the citizens’ group charged.

The state has ignored its own engineers and studies that “indicate numerous problems with the ore-haul plan that need to be addressed,” the complaint says.

The Dunleavy administration has ignored the vote of the Transportation Advisory Committee, set up to make safety recommendations, though it has called for suspension of the ore-hauling plan until studies are completed and safety measures are implemented.

Kinross, through Peak Gold LLC, its operating entity, and the Dunleavy administration are opposing the court motion for expedited consideration. The Committee filed its lawsuit last month, followed last week by the request for a preliminary injunction.

In its court filing, the committee says the state did not follow its own regulations in terms of designating an “industrial use” route for Kinross or enforce rules that prohibit the 95-foot trucks from using Peger Road and the Johansen Expressway.

“To obtain an industrial use designation for its route, Kinross must petition the commissioner in writing,” the filing says. “The petition must include: the proposed route that dictates designation for industrial use, the condition of the facilities; design changes and improvements needed and their cost; the economic, environmental and social impact of such a designation; how much such use and designation will improve the general welfare of the people of the state; and various means of financing the cost of the facility changes necessary.”

Kinross and the state have done all they could to try to avoid any permits or limits on operations. The state failed to enforce numerous rules in this process, the court complaint says.

One instance in which a key state transportation official differed with the official line of the Dunleavy administration to support Kinross concerns the capacity of certain bridges.

Elmer Marx, a highly regarded senior state bridge engineer, now retired, wrote before his retirement that the weight of the Kinross trucks would exceed the “inventory rating of 17 bridges,” though not the “operating rating” of the bridges.

He said, however, that five of the 17 bridges would “require a reduction in the proposed haul truck weight to remain below the posting/inventory/legal limit.”

“Inventory rating” is the amount that a bridge can handle indefinitely without an overload permit for excessive weight. “Operating rating” is the heaviest load a bridge can handle on an infrequent basis, a weight that often requires a special permit.

The Kinross trucks, which will not be running infrequently, are to weigh about 164,000 pounds.

Marx recommended that trucks be limited to 138,000 pounds on the Johnson River Bridge, 123,000 pounds on the Robertson River Bridge, 156,000 pounds on the Sawmill Creek Bridge, 144,000 pounds on the Chena River Flood Control bridge and 156,000 pounds on the Badger Loop Bridge.

The state rejected Marx’s recommendations, the court filing says, but should have listened to his advice as the recommendations follow “generally accepted engineering principles.”

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