Activists fighting a proposed coal mine on the west side of Cook Inlet have won a victory in court.
Earlier this week, a state Superior Court judge ruled that the state was in error when it failed to process the Chuitna Citizens Coalition application for water rights to a tributary of the Chuitna River.
The Coalition filed an application for in-stream flow reservations in 2009, in order to protect the salmon stream, which it said was threatened by the coal mine, but the state Department of Natural Resources failed to process the application, and the Coalition sued.
Judge Mark Rindner ruled on Monday that the state’s refusal to process the application amounts to an unreasonable delay, while it violated Alaskan’s constitutional right to due process.
APTI Reporter-Producer Ellen Lockyer started her radio career in the late 1980s, after a stint at bush Alaska weekly newspapers, the Copper Valley Views and the Cordova Times. When the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, Valdez Public Radio station KCHU needed a reporter, and Ellen picked up the microphone.
Since then, she has literally traveled the length of the state, from Attu to Eagle and from Barrow to Juneau, covering Alaska stories on the ground for the AK show, Alaska News Nightly, the Alaska Morning News and for Anchorage public radio station, KSKA
elockyer (at) alaskapublic (dot) org | 907.550.8446 | About Ellen
