Regarding the Aug. 2 editorial, “Coal: Let Science Prevail,” I have one response: science has already prevailed. Exporting the proposed volume of coal — the Longview facility would be the largest coal terminal in the Northern Hemisphere — would have an enormous impact on the climate. According to the Sightline Institute, a Seattle-based think tank, coal exported from Longview and Bellingham would release 199 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year if burned in China — more than the annual impacts of Keystone XL, if it were built.
The best science available tells us that unchecked climate change will cause droughts, food scarcity, and widespread loss of habitat and biodiversity. In the Pacific Northwest, we will see water scarcity and loss of salmon habitat. The Department of Ecology must, above all, account for climate change in its analysis of coal exports.
Before skeptics question global warming, consider that the National Academy of Sciences has found that 97 percent of climate scientists support the tenets of anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change.
“Show us the data,” The Columbian editorial board implores. The data are right in front of us.
