OPINION: Area-wide assessment of impacts sought for proposed coal terminal

Allison Roberts News

A few months ago more than 124,000 comments by community members including doctors, teachers, business owners, fishers and tribal members flooded the Department of Ecology, Army Corps of Engineers and Whatcom County Planning Department with requests that these regulating agencies assess a broad range of probable impacts associated with the proposed Gateway Pacific coal terminal. Read the full story here.

In the Northwest, rising coal exports to Asia stir huge fight

Allison Roberts News

DECKER, Mont. — At Spring Creek Mine, a broad black seam of coal, reaching depths of 80 feet, runs like a subterranean river through arid, sagebrush-covered hills. This is a world-class seam formed from the remnants of ferns, grasses and other plants that flourished here more than 50 million years ago, when this part of Montana was a humid marsh. Read …

In Montana, ranchers line up against coal

Allison Roberts News

COLSTRIP, Mont. — Out in these windy stretches of cottonwood and prairie grass, not far from where Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer ran into problems at Little Bighorn, a new battle is unfolding over what future energy development in the West will look like. Here, rancher Wallace McRae and his son, Clint, run cattle on 31,000 acres along Rosebud Creek, …

New regional alliance opposes coal-export plan from state ports

Allison Roberts News

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn on Monday announced a new alliance of politicians and tribal leaders opposed to exporting Western coal to Asia from Washington ports. “We will stand together … to tell our federal and state leaders that we don’t want the coal trains here in the Pacific Northwest,” McGinn said. Read the full story here.

Huffington Post

State should deny coal project permits to protect the Columbia River Gorge: Guest opinion

Allison Roberts News

As elected officials in the Columbia River Gorge, we are frequently asked to weigh in on projects that affect our local quality of life. Few, however, present such potentially adverse economic and environmental effects as the continuing expansion of coal shipments. Only a few trains currently transport coal through the gorge, and already we’re seeing the damage caused by coal …

Northwest Railroads Will Need Improvements To Handle Coal Trains

Allison Roberts News

The five coal export terminals proposed for Washington and Oregon could add dozens of trains a day to Northwest railways. Those trains would mean new business for coal companies, railroad companies and the ports. They would create short-term construction jobs and long-term port and railroad jobs. They would generate tax revenue for the states with the ports. Read the full story here.