Comments on: Cooooooal Train!

By: Ambre Energy: Caveat Investor | Sightline Daily

Ambre Energy: Caveat Investor | Sightline Daily — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 18:59:12 +0000

[...] coal export terminals in the Pacific Northwest: the industry thinks that the Northwest offers the cheapest route to move coal from Montana and Wyoming to China, Korea, and [...]

By: Josef

Josef — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 18:04:19 +0000

Grant is right, if you want to stop a project using the courts to oject & sue, baby, sue is generally a good way to go about it. Make sure you start by requesting an environmental impact statement/EIS and go thru the process very carefully.That said, I generally support the idea of America exporting things to China. Including coal.

By: Paul Birkeland

Paul Birkeland — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 20:57:03 +0000

Excellent article, Clark.And I totally agree with Grant. I received an e-mail from Climate Solutions this morning that I’ll post below. They are joining a legal appeal to stop the permitting. They also recommend contacting the Governor. We all ought to do this. (NOTE: The hot links in the e-mail aren’t hot here. But you can go to http://www.climatesolutions.org and find all the references.)Let’s do this!FOWARDED FROM CLIMATE SOLUTIONSSometimes you have to say “NO” in order to truly say “YES.” Today, Climate Solutions spoke loudly and clearly: NO to exporting coal, and YES to a clean energy future. We joined in a legal appeal to help stop an Australia-based coal company from opening the door to make Washington the coal-export hub of the Pacific rim. This company proposes to send coal mined in Wyoming and Montana on trains through the Columbia River Gorge, via a port in Longview, and ship it across the Pacific to be burned in China. The coal shipped through this one facility would blow a giant hole in Washington’s goals to reduce global warming pollution—it would create more emissions than come from the entire city of Seattle and more than any single facility in the state. And other coal companies are already lining up with their own proposals. What kind of future do we want for our region? We can either harness our greatest natural resource—our know-how and ingenuity—to develop a strong local clean energy economy and export clean energy products and services. Or we can become a low-wage resource colony economy exporting raw materials like coal to China, where they will use it to manufacture goods to sell back to us. The time to make that decision is now. We should not walk away from the region’s legacy of leadership on climate change. We can do better.We are standing with people throughout the West Coast, who KNOW we can and must do better than becoming a resource colony to support the burning of dirty, dangerous coal. Here is the press release that explains more detail about the legal appeal.Here’s how you can help:Call Governor Gregoire at (360) 902-4111 and tell her to ensure that Washington says “No to coal export, and YES to a clean energy future.”Call Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Goldmark at (360) 902-1001 and tell him ensure that Washington says “No to coal export” and YES to a clean energy future.”There will also be an information session on this campaign tomorrow, Tuesday, Dec. 14th at 6 p.m. at the Broadway Gallery, 1420 Commerce, Longview, WA. For more information on the coal export issue, and to sign our petition, go here.Thank you for standing up for a clean energy future,Joelle Robinson, Climate Solutions Field Director

By: Grant Sawyer

Grant Sawyer — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 06:22:00 +0000

The purposed coal export terminal in Longview is to be on privately owned land not at the publically owned Port of Longview. This fact makes it’s harder to stop as the property owners don’t have to care about public opinion only the profitability of the venture. Of course this is a very bad for the environment and we must get organized to stop it. The way to do so best is to mount legal challenges every step of the way to drive up their legal costs so high the project is no longer profitable. I know that approach really sucks but it’s the system we’ve been handed and we must work within it. Someday hopefully we will have a just system where the future is valued just as much as much as short term profitability.

By: Andrea Faste

Andrea Faste — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 00:47:26 +0000

OK, so it is super cheap to use Longview, WA…but now please figure out the “externalities” like how much coal dust will be put in the air as the coal is transferred from train to ship, and dusted over eastern Washington? And why, if the Chinese are getting big into solar and wind power, are they still wanting US coal? Of course, the big question is how do we convince Longview port officials that this is a BAD idea?