After years of waging disinformation campaigns, the U.S. cigarette industry finally accepted that cancer-wary Americans were lighting up less. Big Tobacco found a lucrative new market, however: It stepped up exports to Asia. Big Coal seems set on a similar strategy. With construction of new coal plants being blocked across America — and states like Washington phasing out coal — the export market beckons, …
When the locals don’t want your coal, sell it overseas
The world’s largest surface coal mine complex is a landscape unto itself. Six 200-foot-high draglines tear open the earth and scoop the black coal into gigantic dump trucks that make school buses look like playthings. Two dozen loaded-down trains, each a mile long, slide out of the mine complex every day, headed for power plants hundreds and even thousands of …
Whatcom County: Gateway Pacific cargo terminal needs new permit
Developers of the Gateway Pacific Terminal must apply for an entirely new shoreline permit if they want to build a facility capable of handling up to 54 million tons of cargo a year, including coal. Read the full story here.