Salem should worry about risks from coal trains

Allison Roberts News

On July 4, Burton and Zorine Linder of Glenview, Ill., had the misfortune to be driving toward the Chicago suburb of Northbrook when a 138-car Union Pacific train carrying coal from Wyoming derailed. The Linders were buried under tons of coal and their bodies were not discovered until the following day.

This tragic accident happened only two days after another 125-car coal train derailed near Pasco, Wash. About 900 tons of coal were spilled from 31 cars.

Then on the evening of July 4, another coal train derailed near Temple, Texas, sending a cloud of toxic coal dust into the air that could be seen for miles.

We should be thinking about these three coal train derailments in one week, because our town could have mile-long coal trains in our future.

There are plans to ship Wyoming coal to China from six ports in Oregon and Washington. One would be in Coos Bay. Salem would be on the route from Wyoming to Coos Bay.

The volume of coal shipments planned is astounding. A report from the Western Organization of Resource Councils says that trains in Oregon and Washington currently carry about 80 million tons of freight for export each year. Plans are to eventually export 150 million tons of coal to Asia from Oregon and Washington. That would mean about 60 mile-long coal trains traveling through the Pacific Northwest each day by 2022.

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