Columbia River Coal Plan Gets First Hearing In Boardman

December 5, 2012

BOARDMAN, Ore. – A series of public meetings about a proposed coal export terminal kicked off Tuesday night in this Eastern Oregon town that hugs the Columbia River Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality hosted the meeting to take comments and answer questions about permits required for the proposed Morrow Pacific…

Courtney Flatt | EarthFix

DEQ to hear from public on coal exports Tuesday

December 3, 2012

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality will conduct the first of three public hearings Dec. 4 in Boardman on the proposed Morrow-Pacific coal exports project by Australian company, Ambre Energy. Ambre is proposing to bring up to 8.8 million tons of coal per year by train from the coalfields of…

Hermiston Herald

Bellingham residents at odds over coal proposal

November 13, 2012

BELLINGHAM – This progressive college town is known for its stunning scenery, access to the outdoors and eclectic mix of aging hippies, students and other residents. But lately it’s turned into a battleground in the debate over whether the Pacific Northwest should become the hub for exporting U.S. coal to…

Phuong Le | Associated Press

Epic Northwest battle: Defining how big a deal coal ports are

November 12, 2012

It is being called “unprecedented” but it seems to be rolling out as its authors had intended, perhaps the biggest experiment in environmental democracy the Northwest has ever seen. That would be the “scoping” process to determine what effects the proposed Gateway Pacific Terminal north of Bellingham would have on…

Floyd McKay | Crosscut

Study: Coal Trains Would Hit Property Values Hard

November 10, 2012

A new study commissioned by Seattle-based Climate Solutions concluded that a proposal to run as many as 18 1.6-mile-long coal trains a day through Seattle to a new coal terminal in Bellingham could cost property owners along the route as much as $265 million in lost property values. The report…

Erica C. Barnett | Publicola

Paddle Past Coal! Columbia River Anti-Coal paddle

October 23, 2012

On Sat. 10/21/12, 20 kayakers from the cities of Longview, Columbia City, Rainer, Portland and Milwaukie paddled on the Columbia River from Mayger Dock to Port Westward. They kayaked through Bradbury Slough, a calm and protected part of the Columbia, separated from the main channel of the River by Crim’sIsland. Crim’s…

By Columbia Riverkeeper

GUEST VIEWPOINT: Local impacts of coal exports unacceptable

October 23, 2012

We’re generally strong supporters of improved rail services in Oregon, but we’re very concerned that coal exports would worsen climate change and undermine city policies. Relying on coal exports is a risky business strategy, and the local impacts are just unacceptable. Five other coal port projects are proposed in the…

Alan Zelenka and Kitty Piercy

EDITORIAL: Visualize Edmonds – without coal trains, please

October 15, 2012

…Now imagine this: nine coal trains – each one a mile and a half long and so heavy that it requires four diesel locomotives – rumbling through town along the waterfront, carrying over 150,000 tons of toxic, dusty cargo every day. Read the full story here.

Strom Peterson | Edmonds Beacon