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March 29, 2024

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Letter: Australia says thanks for the delay

The Columbian
Published: August 8, 2012, 5:00pm

America likes to be kind to its competitors and one way to do this is to hamper local businesses with regulations and restrictions.

Chilean lumber producers got rich when we curtailed logging in the Northwest by using the Endangered Species Act. And did the Spotted Owl recover? I don’t think so.

Now, here we go again with coal. Environmentalists are calling for an Environmental Impact Statement prior to permitting coal exports. An EIS for chlorine or sulfuric acid might be understandable, but coal is something we know. We used to heat with it.

Older houses in the area have coal chutes into the basement. We used to live on top of a pile of coal. We shoveled it daily.

Meanwhile, Australians are getting rich exporting coal to China. Ten years ago, the Aussie dollar was worth 70 cents, today it is listed at $1.04.

Oh yes, they have passed us. If you plan to visit Australia, you will feel the financial pinch. The longer we delay permitting coal, the happier the Australians will be.

Bruce Fleming

Vancouver

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