FAIRBANKS — Environmental regulators have fined Usibelli Coal Mine for
almost a dozen cases where mining water made its way into Interior rivers
and creeks.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday morning Usibelli
has agreed to a $60,000 fine. It said the fine penalizes 11 “unpermitted
discharges” into the Nenana River and Hoseanna, Sanderson and Francis
creeks between April 2007 and mid-2010 and 10 other cases where the firm
violated its permit guidelines.

Fred Wallis, a vice president for the mine, said Usibelli reported the
cases itself. He said the water discharges occurred when heavy rain
overwhelmed collection ditches.

EPA Compliance Unit spokeswoman Eva DeMaria agreed the discharges were
accidental, but, she said, they could have been prevented with better
maintenance and planning.

She said rain that falls on mining pits must be collected in ponds and
ditches, where sediment settles out before the water can be released
legally. In some cases, she said, the holding areas were too full of
sediment residue.

“If they’d cleaned out their ponds regularly, these discharges wouldn’t
have happened,” she said.

DeMaria said the discharges each involved either hundreds or thousands of
gallons of water.

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