Fairbanks legislators compound Dunleavy's failure by inaction on Kinross ore-haul plan
I was surprised to read this bit of hand-wringing the other day from Sen. Scott Kawasaki in the Daily News-Miner about the Kinross ore-hauling operation: “It’s kind of hard to imagine a vehicle that heavy driving through the center of town but I can’t find a law they’re breaking.”
I wasn’t surprised to read that Rep. Mike Prax was quoted as saying that no one is breaking the law and the Legislature has no role.
Both comments are indicative of a lack of legislative leadership.
As I see it, the central issue is not about “a law they’re breaking,” but about the refusal of the Dunleavy administration to make any demands of Kinross or set any conditions to protect the public interest.
This includes the interests of other people who know that the experience of driving between Tetlin and Cleary Summit will be more hazardous than it already is, while maintenance and repair will only get worse.
Dunleavy assumes that there is no need to get anything in writing from the Canadian company about any aspect of its operation. Or to push for new taxes, assuming that state mining taxes that have been largely unchanged since 1955 are acceptable.
The mining company agrees because it doesn’t want the government adding any more rules of the road or taking any more money.
As a group, our legislators have failed the community, offering silence or doubletalk in response to Dunleavy’s Just Say Yes to Kinross campaign. Rep. Ashley Carrick is a notable exception.
While I agree with her that the Tetlin rocks should be processed on the site, that would require an owner that is not Kinross.
The failure by the governor is compounded by the legislative refusal to act as a check or balance. Lawmakers have allowed the governor to adopt his passive approach, allowing Kinross to steer.
They aren’t demanding answers or accountability. While Dunleavy isn’t going to provide either one, the job of the legislator is to refuse to take no for an answer.
At a minimum the state should set operating conditions and specific safety rules for the Kinross operation, recognizing that the number of trucks will likely be increased after the project gets moving because this is expected to be a highly profitable venture.
The Tetlin mine is among the highest grade open-pit mines in the world. The project will last much longer than five years if mine developers succeed the way they hope and find more gold.
A feasibility study for the project this year identified the key factor in limiting how much rock is handled each day as the “chosen highway transport rate (3,000 short tons per day ore) is the downstream bottleneck . . .”
Chosen. The number of trucks per day or per hour is a matter of choice, a “downstream bottleneck” that can be eased without asking anyone for approval. All the company has to do is find drivers and trucks.
That none of our elected leaders have seen fit to investigate this or demand commitments from Kinross about limiting future operations to a certain number of trucks per day, or setting clear limits on bad weather operations, is par for the course.
The frequency and duration of the trucking plan are what sets all of this apart from the regular heavy truck traffic.
When the Dunleavy administration torpedoed the Transportation Advisory Committee last month, legislators should have fought to keep it going and challenge the shutdown.
Our legislators should be pushing the administration on this and on other matters, such as the alleged new analysis that shows the state reversing its position on the Steese Expressway bridge.
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