A proposed gravel extraction site sits just south of the Haines ferry terminal. Planning commissioners approved a conditional use permit for the area despite concerns from residents about landslide potential from clearing the site. Lex Treinen photo.

Despite pushback from people who called the project a risk to public safety, members of Haines’ outgoing planning commission granted a permit for a company to blast into a hillside along Lutak Road to extract hard rock and…

Rashah McChesney is a multimedia journalist and editor who has reported and edited newsrooms from the Deep South to the Midwest to Alaska. For the past decade, she has worked in collaborative news as the...