A company that wants to build a coal terminal in Longview, Wash., says it will re-apply for a permit In the next few months. But opponents say the company has already proven itself untrustworthy. Photo credit: www.king5.com/story/tech/science/environment/2014/07/31/12972674
Company builds roads for coal terminal without proper permit
Whatcom County is prepared to fine Seattle-based company SSA Marine after it says the company built a series of roads through sensitive woodlands without the proper permit. Photo credit: www.king5.com/story/local/2015/06/17/13002644
Environmental Groups Upset About Coal Trains
Environmental groups in the Spokane area are upset with proposals that could see dozens of trains loaded with coal destined for the Far East move through the city every day. They fear that coal dust and increased diesel emissions will damage human health, while increased rail traffic will make for more dangerous intersections, among other hazards. Read full story here.
Letter: Coal the wrong track – Helena Independent Record, Oct. 3, 2011
and community. The impacts to the health and well-being of Montanans will be myriad and substantial. Most apparent is the climate crisis. With the exception of the fossil-fuel industry, which, like the tobacco industry before it, is manufacturing doubt about the harmfulness of their products (oil, gas and, dirtiest of all, coal), people are noticing the “weird” weather accompanying the …
Orient Express: Will Montana become a coal colony? – July 28, 2011
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 quandary as state plans to send dirty fuel overseas
Just as Washington is weaning itself off coal, two companies are pushing to make the state a leading exporter of the fossil fuel. That possibility has sparked a fierce debate: If coal is so dirty that Washington won’t use it, should the state really serve as a conduit for shipping it overseas? Read the full story.
EDITORIAL: Counting rail cars
Ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one hundred, one hundred one, one hundred two. The final car, a bulk carrier, rumbled past and the barrier lifted. Until Marysville is once again bisected by the moving wall of BNSF. Read the full story here.
Groups sue Millennium over alleged Clean Water Act violations
Vancouver and Longview citizens groups announced Tuesday they will sue the owner of a proposed coal dock in West Longview, contending that Millennium Bulk Terminals is violating the federal Clean Water Act by handling coal without a permit. Read the full story here.
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, …
A railroad bottleneck if coal trains increase
A new study shows passenger rail service from Seattle to Vancouver, B.C., can expand. But additional freight traffic from coal trains would create a problem for a stretch of single-track rail, landslides, and low-roof tunnels. Read the full story here.
