Coal trains mean coal dust—period. And trackside communities should worry.

Eric Shew News

Sightline Institute,  Eric de Place This article is part of the series A Crackdown on Coal Dust So much coal dust escapes from the open-top rail cars used for transporting coal that it can create safety problems for rail traffic. Coal dust deposits sometimes cause spontaneous fires, and in 2005, for example, coal dust that had accumulated in ballast, the …

Over a quarter of a million public comments against largest coal export terminal in North America

Marcela Gara News

Public Comment Period Ends As Community Concerns Grow Over Fossil Fuel Transport Given Recent Oil Train Derailment on Columbia River  Olympia, WA:   Residents traveling up from Longview, WA delivered public comments to the Washington Dept. of Ecology at the end of the 45 day public comment process.   The agency should receive over 257,000 comments calling on the Dept. of Ecology …

ARCH COAL BACKS OUT OF LONGVIEW EXPORT TERMINAL

Marcela Gara News

By Clark Williams-Derry  MAY 27, 2016 10:30 AM And another one bites the dust… Starting six years ago, Washington and Oregon found themselves besieged by a flotilla of massive, well-financed companies hell-bent on building coal export terminals to feed Asia’s allegedly insatiable appetite for coal. But the coal industry’s vision of a robust export market turned out to be a mirage: starting in early 2011, international …

New Assessment Finds Emissions From Proposed Coal Terminal Would be ‘Significant And Unavoidable’

Eric Shew News

By Natasha Geiling APR 29, 2016 2:45 PM Cowlitz County and the Washington State Department of Ecology have finally released the draft of their long-awaited Environmental Impact Statement regarding a proposed coal export terminal in Longview, Washington. Located just two hours north of Portland, Oregon, along the Columbia River, the proposed terminal would ship a maximum of 44 million metric tons …

Crucial win for Northwest communities: Army Corps upholds Lummi Nation treaty rights, denies coal permit at Cherry Point

RE Sources for Sustainable Communities News

By Samantha Wohlfeil  MAY 9, 2016 11:09 AM The proposed coal terminal at Xwe’chi’eXen, also knows as Cherry Point, Wash., is dead in the water after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a landmark decision and denied a federal permit Monday, May 9. The Corps ruled the project would impact the treaty-protected fishing rights and ancestral lands of Lummi Nation. Lummi members cheered the announcement …

Coal Export Plans Spiral Further As Arch Coal Withdraws Plan for Largest Strip Mine in Country

Eric Shew News

Photo: Dustin Bleizeffer/WyoFile Longview coal terminal plans more dire with Longview, WA — Arch Coal, Inc. has asked Montana Department of Environmental Quality to suspend all work on their permit application for the Otter Creek Mine, and is closing their Otter Creek Coal offices.  Arch Coal’s announcement follows the company declaring bankruptcy in January.  Arch Coal owns a 38% interest …

Study finds coal trains emit nearly twice the pollution as freight trains

Natalie Jamerson News

UW study in the Columbia River Gorge also finds 1 in 20 coal trains is a “superduster” November 23, 2015: Coal trains emit nearly double the amount of pollution compared to freight trains, according to a report released by the University of Washington today. The results of the study confirm what Gorge landowners, tribal fishers, and recreationists have observed firsthand …

Amid protests, Montana, Wyoming delegation visits Longview coal dock

Natalie Jamerson News

Two competing messages clashed in Longview on Monday: One said a proposed $643 million coal terminal is a way to inject 135 family-wage jobs into a struggling local economy and reduce Asian reliance on “dirty coal.” Another warned the coal terminal is a risky project that would clog rail traffic, introduce new health hazards and worsen climate change. Amid protests, …

City of Missoula joins growing list opposed to Tongue River Railroad

Eric Shew News

The city of Missoula is asking the federal Surface Transportation Board to consider the local health and environmental impacts of a proposed Montana railroad and the increased coal traffic that could result if it’s built. By adopting the resolution Monday night, Missoula’s City Council joins several local and state entities in arguing that the additional coal trains stemming from the …

Scholars may never understand the energy source’s full economic cost, but that doesn’t make its damage any less knowable.

Eric Shew News

In Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See, a radio broadcaster marvels at the wonder of coal: Consider a single piece glowing in your family’s stove. See it, children? That chunk of coal was once a green plant, a fern or reed that lived one million years ago, or maybe two million, or maybe one hundred million. Can you imagine …