Part of the debate is right there in the name: King II Coal mine.
When coal mining started in western La Plata County’s Hay Gulch in 1941, diesel-electric locomotives had not yet displaced coal-fired steam engines.
In Durango, many homes and most downtown buildings had ground-floor doors opening on chutes so coal could be loaded from the street into basements, where coal furnaces and boilers provided heat.
In that era, the combustible rock that fueled the industrial revolution was still king.
It is 2017, and despite what President Trump preaches, coal continues its decline. But does that mean that the King II Coal mine should fade into history?
The mine owners seek to expand the operation because it is running out of coal reserves. An additional 950 acres, GCC Energy claims, will allow the mine to operate for another five to seven years.
Neighbors on County Road 120 are not in favor, citing the noise and traffic created by coal trucks (currently 80 trips every day, rising to 120 daily by the time a series of road improvements are completed over the next five years).
We sympathize. At first glance the truck traffic seems incompatible with the rural, pastoral nature of Hay Gulch.
But King II is an underground operation, not a strip mine; the expanded mining would still take place underground with little or no disturbance to the privately-owned land at the surface, and groundwater will be closely monitored to protect the area’s private wells.
Currently, the mine employs nearly 100 people and pays an estimated $12 million every year in salaries and benefits. That is an employer we really can not afford to lose. Remember, too, that the mine is a substantial, dependable source of property tax revenues.
Since 2010, a great deal of effort has gone into making sure the mine is in compliance with county codes and permits, in finding ways to mitigate the mine’s impacts on neighbors and to work out agreements to improve the condition and safety of the county road.
The expansion is a reasonable request. For now, let the mine keep producing La Plata County coal.
