At its Feb. 17 meeting, the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly to postpone action for a second time on Ordinance 2009-02, authorizing a five-year extension of the option to lease Ladd Landing between the borough and PacRim Coal LLP. As written, the option will expire April 9.

Called the Chuitna Coal Project, PacRim Coal LLP is exploring a future strip mine coal operation in the Beluga Coal Fields on the west side of upper Cook Inlet. The company has a state lease on 20,571 acres of land northwest of Tyonek estimated to contain one billion tons of ultra-low sulfur, sub-bituminous coal.

PacRim hopes to mine that deposit over the course of several decades, beginning with a 5,000-acre section that could produce 12 million metric tons a year for 25 years. Most of the coal would likely be shipped overseas from a dock facility to be built at Ladd Landing.

The borough first entered a lease-option contract in 1987 with Tidewater Services Corp., which merged with Midgard Energy Co. in 1994. The option has since been assigned to PacRim Coal. Over the years, the option on the lease has been extended and amended five times. Action on the ordinance was first postponed at the Feb. 3 meeting. Should the ordinance pass, it would be the sixth addendum made to the lease.

While some assembly members wanted more time to consider the ordinance, others wanted to take a closer look at the lease.

"My philosophy is we have until April 9. What difference does it make to postpone once more to give assembly members time to go through it once more and look at what we're dealing with?" said Assembly President Milli Martin of Diamond Ridge.

Bill Smith, who represents Homer on the assembly, was the one requesting the postponement.

"I made the motion because what I wanted was to be able to read it," Smith said of the 134-page document, complete with multiple addendums.

The assembly has received numerous letters regarding the ordinance.

"(The letters) were sort of based on the perception that if the assembly did not extend (the lease option), it would stop coal development, but that's not the case," Smith said. "What PacRim has is an option to execute the lease. The lease is written. They can choose at any time to execute it. If we don't extend, they have the option to do two things: let it go or execute the lease. We can't stop them if they want to execute it. Not extending it is not going to stop it."

Ordinance 209-02 will receive a second public hearing at the assembly's meeting Tuesday. There will not be a teleconference, however anyone wishing to express comments on the ordinance can do so during the hearing. The meeting will be held at the Borough Assembly Chambers in Soldotna at 7 p.m.