ALTON, Kane County — Gary Kalpakoff has a great view from his front porch on 100 South in this little town full of "Whoa" signs, not just stop signs.
Life moves at a different pace in this community of 127 residents, where the post office is in the back of Orval Palmer's home and the town hall occupies the old church.
Off in the distance to the south, if one knows what to look for, a visitor can see a brownish-red mount of dirt, barren of vegetation against land with grass or trees.
The obscure transformation in the landscape scares Kalpakoff, leaving him anxious about what he might see marching close to his property, a view from the front porch of the turning wheels of coal truck, after coal truck, interrupting his look at unspoiled pastureland.
"I personally don't want to live next to a strip mine," he said.
Kalpakoff is a unique voice in the so-called war on coal. He's a resident in a town that has been a friendly partner with Alton Coal Development, which is seeking to expand its mining activities on both federal and private property.
That mound of dirt he can see in the distance is actually part of the reclamation activities taking place at Alton's current mine site as operators cover and vegetate the land they have already mined. The proposed expansion would bring the mine north toward his property line — activity he doesn't want to watch from his back yard.
Kalpakoff knows the relationship between the town and the mine is a good one.
The town's fire station was built with money from Alton Coal, and the company pledged to not mine on Sunday out of deference to residents' religious practices.
Kalpakoff knows he is in the minority with his neighbors and knows they probably don't like him being affiliated with the Sierra Club, which is aiming to shut down the expansions.
"I know they have their opinion and I have mine. I am not a grandstander. I am not going to put a sign in my front yard, but I object to the burning of coal. There is no such thing as clean coal."
Fighting coal
The Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign is a grass-roots, boots-on-the-ground effort that got an infusion of $60 million in funding from former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg this year and taps the efforts of more than 2.3 million dues-paying members.
In February, Beyond Coal hired a "Utah organizer" for the first time to go after Rocky Mountain Power and its utilization of coal.
Lindsay Beebe, who once worked for local coal critics HEAL Utah, will also help lead the fight against proposed mine expansions like Alton Coal's that involve public lands.
"The campaign has really started to identify Utah as the battleground where we can really effect some change and transition to clean energy as a real opportunity and reality," she said.
On Aug. 25, the Sierra Club and HEAL Utah filed objections in a public comment period to Rocky Mountain Power's 20-year "resource" plan filed before the Public Service Commission, arguing it binds the state to a future of "dirty" coal-fired power plants. As part of their objection, they rustled up 1,700 people who weighed in against the plan.
"Utah is so heavily dependent on fossil fuels. We are kind of an outlier when it comes to the proportion of fossil fuels to renewables when you look at our neighbors," Beebe said. "It is really a shame. The potential for renewables is there; it is just really untapped."
Air quality
Matt Pacenza, executive director of HEAL Utah, said the state's coal consumption should be a concern to any resident worried about air quality— both along the Wasatch Front and in rural areas of the state where regional haze threatens views at national parks.
As an example of why Wasatch Front residents should take up the coal fight, Pacenza points to a Salt Lake City greenhouse gas inventory done in 2010.
Pacenza said the analysis showed that 54 percent of carbon emissions put out by the average Salt Lake City resident are a result of their purchase of Rocky Mountain Power's coal power-dominated electric fleet.
In July, the Sierra Club claimed credit for taking down the 200th coal-fired power plant in the country as part of a settlement agreement that will result in an Iowa utility phasing out coal use at six of its plants.
"The days of coal-fired power plants putting Americans at risk are coming to an end," said Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, in a prepared release. "In Iowa and across the country, people are demanding clean air and clean water — and they are winning."
The groups' words and concentrated campaigns against coal and its mining industry grind on the nerves of local community leaders who often make the pitch for jobs the industry brings, an improved quality of life and revenue for the government checkbook — not to be overshadowed by cheap electricity rates.
They also point to technological advances and multi-million dollar investments that have made dramatic reductions in emissions.
But Beebe said coal has outlived its time as an energy source, and Utah needs to be looking to renewables much more aggressively.
"When I think of coal I think of an outdated dirty energy source that we don't want for the future of Utah. It is antiquated and we are moving beyond that."
And she stressed the campaign is not about the people but simply coal itself.
"We are not against the livelihoods of these people, we are against the effects of the industry," she said. "It is not a fight against the people, it is a fight against the externalities of this outdated industry."
For his part, Kalpakoff said if the mine expands, he will likely leave and seek some other wide open space like Montana.
"I am lucky, I don't have to stay here," he said. "And I don't particularly want to be the bad guy. But I don't want to live next to a strip mine."
Email: amyjoi@deseretnews.com; Twitter: amyjoi16