Alton Coal Development appears to have only one thing stopping them from commencing mining 10 miles southeast of Bryce Canyon National Park - a public hearing on their air quality permit. The final hurdle before the coal mining company begins operations was cleared after the Sept. 15 legal notice of intent for an air quality permit was issued by the Executive Secretary of the Utah Air Quality Board, pending a 30-day public comment period. An engineering evaluation and air quality impact analysis done for the permit process found the proposed strip-mine development project meets federal and state air quality rules and regulations. The 30-day public comment period began Sept. 15. If no issues arise in the comment period the permit would be approved and the mine could be up and running by mid-October.
"There will be steps before we can start mining coal," Coal project manager, Chris McCourt said, noting some infrastructure in the mine would need to be built before the mine can formally begin operating. "There would be some steps first, but we would start those steps immediately (after the comment period)."
The initial stages of mining will slowly roll out a smaller number of highway-approved tractor-trailers transporting coal from Alton to Intermountain Power Agency's plant near Delta. The number of trucks could eventually expand to as many as 300 coal trucks per day passing through Panguitch and other towns on state Route 89.The Spectrum
