The state's glowing report on the proposed Andalex coal mine in southern Utah is little more than useless gob, according to a watchdog environmental group.
Prepared by the governor's Office of Planning and Budget, the report is misleading and based on erroneous assumptions and data, said Ken Rait, issues coordinator for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, the primary opponent to the coal mine."The OPB report is . . . an irresponsible political document," Rait wrote in a letter this month to Gov. Mike Leavitt. "We hereby request that you withdraw this study and embark on one which produces, instead, credible and useful information."
Andalex Resources Inc., a Dutch-owned company, is proposing to open a coal mine in the Smoky Hollow area a few miles northeast of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area in Kane County. The mine would be the first on the Kaiparowits Plateau, which contains one of the largest untapped coal reserves in the country.
But the Kaiparowits is also one of the last rugged and wild places in Utah and should remain that way, Rait said.
The OPB report - which was done at the request of Beaver, Garfield, Iron, Kane and Washington counties - says the mining operations would contribute tens of millions of dollars to Utah's economy every year.
But Rait disputes the report's conclusions because it relies too heavily on Andalex's numbers with no real analysis.
"The study design has been limited to considering only those aspects of the mine which, based on Andalex's assumptions, could produce economic benefits."
For example, Rait said, "Although the report attributes more than $2 million in benefits to the Wasatch Front for the mine permitting process, the permitting is, in reality, being done by a consulting firm in Fort Collins, Colo." Andalex's numbers also suggest a coal-loading railroad facility would be built in Utah, though it is more likely to be located in Nevada, Rait said.
While the OPB report outlines tens of millions of dollars in salaries, taxes to government and purchases of Utah goods and services, it fails to assess the possible adverse effects on Utah's economy, he said.
"The most obvious adverse economic impact is in the dislocation it would cause to the existing coal economy in central Utah," Rait said. "In the absence of unlimited demand, any production from a southern Utah coal mine would result in lost economic activity in central Utah."
Because of a potential lack of coal customers in smog-ridden Los Angeles, Andalex would have to look to the Pacific Rim, where Andalex would face competition from Chinese and Australian producers, Rait said.
"Therefore, lacking new markets, the Andalex proposal could only displace existing (Utah) producers."
The OPB report also fails to consider taxpayer subsidies to the project, mainly the $75 million in highway funds that would be spent to upgrade the roads. Other taxpayer costs include additional emergency services to handle the estimated 150 traffic accidents expected along the coal routes, which are expected to see "one monster truck every 31/2 minutes," Rait said.
"Numerous other adverse impacts with economic consequences have been egregiously ignored."
Underlying SUWA's opposition to the coal mine is the possible threat to wilderness designation.
A 5.8-million-acre wilderness bill introduced by Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-New York, includes 63,000 acres of wilderness areas that would be intruded upon by the mining operation.
"It will transform a vast wilderness into an industrial zone," Rait said. "We don't need to open up the Kaiparowits coal field, especially so some Dutch-owned company can export our wilderness legacy to the Pacific Rim."