The IR recently wrote about the lawsuit against the decision (of a bare majority) of the Land Board to lease Otter Creek valley for strip-mining by Arch Coal Inc. (Missouri). This decision was made without evaluating environmental and health impacts to our climate and community. The impacts to the health and well-being of Montanans will be myriad and substantial. Most …
Coal dust, piles an issue for southeast Newport News
Mayor McKinley Price peered through binoculars on the 10th floor balcony outside his City Hall office, viewing a panoramic landscape of waterfront property dominated by black coal piles. Read the full story here.
The cherry pit: Bellingham area as a gateway of coal to China
The Chinese need coal. They consume more than 3.2 billion metric tons every year to run the factories that make all of the junk we buy. The only way for American coal companies to get our cheap federally subsidized coal to China is to ship it across the Pacific Ocean. Read the full story here.
Consider all the implications of coal terminal
We can do better. The fire at the Millennium Bulk Terminals site last week highlights the need for our community to have this property cleaned up once and for all. Given the legitimate concern over the potential toxic air pollution and related health impacts from this fire, our community should really be concerned about the long-term health and economic impact …
Stop Washington state coal-energy production
ENERGY policy is health policy. While we all need to use energy, not all of it is equal. Some ways of producing and using energy make people sick, while others are far more benign. To protect public health and to save on health-care costs, we should choose the healthier path. Read the full story here.
Longview coal port: a big plan well hidden
New documents show that an Australian company is planning to ship much more coal to China through Longview than it acknowledged. State and local officials may have been deliberately deceived. Read the full story here.
Environmental groups appeal approval of Columbia River coal export terminal
Environmental groups are appealing development permits issued for a new coal export terminal in Longview, Wash, saying the first major coal export site on the U.S. West Coast would threaten public health and undermine state efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Read the full story here.
The Northwest’s newest export: global warming
A region trying to close its own coal-burning generating plants is now poised to become a supplier of millions of tons of coal each year to China It’s not fair to lay responsibility for the Earth’s climate at the feet of the Cowlitz County commissioners who recently approved a plan to ship coal to China from a terminal on the …
UW Scientist Tracks Airborne Mercury From China
Smaller amounts of toxic pollution are falling out of the sky onto the Puget Sound basin than 20 years ago. That according to new federal research. But one independent scientist says the gains in the region are partially offset by more pollution blowing in from faraway foreign sources. Correspondent Doug Nadvornick explains. Read the full story here.