COWLITZ COUNTY – In anticipation of the scoping period for an environmental impact statement (EIS) that three agencies plan to jointly prepare for a proposed coal export terminal near Longview, the agencies are announcing tentative dates for scoping meetings so people can plan for them. Millennium Bulk Terminals-Longview LLC proposes to build and operate a terminal at the site of …
OPINION: Coal impact study needed
More than 800 people turned out for Spokane’s public hearing on coal export last December, some from as far away as Eastern Montana. The vast majority of them called on the government to study the full range of potential impacts of plans to make the Northwest a conveyor belt for 100 million tons of coal every year from mines in …
Coal trains raise concerns in congested cities
On a midweek afternoon, the piercing blasts of a locomotive whistle announce the approach of a freight train and the closure of Fourth Street, a key artery that runs through this city north of Seattle. Read the full story here.
OPINION: Area-wide assessment of impacts sought for proposed coal terminal
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.
Coal trains would worsen Marysville’s traffic problem
MARYSVILLE — When it comes to traffic backups from more coal trains, Marysville is Snohomish County’s ground zero. Of 33 street crossings on BNSF Railway’s north-south line in the county, 16 — nearly half — are in Marysville. Many of them already are congested. Read the full story here.
In the Northwest, rising coal exports to Asia stir huge fight
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
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
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.
State should deny coal project permits to protect the Columbia River Gorge: Guest opinion
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 …