I’m writing in response to the March 2 letter “Cleaner coal means good jobs” from Jodi Guetzloe Parker of the Columbia Pacific Building Trades Council, backers of proposed coal terminals.
The backers said the opponents are a fringe group. Really? More than 95 percent of the climate scientists and the World Bank claim that we must drastically reduce greenhouse gases immediately. Since when are they a fringe group?
The backers said we are using scare tactics. We are not. We are saying we want the impacts to all communities evaluated. The backers have hired law firms, which could work to limit the scope of the impact statement to the site of the terminal.
The backers said new technologies in the transportation of coal have virtually eliminated coal dust from trains, but failed to mention that covers and side-dumpers are not always used, and that dust trickles out the hatches because they are not maintained.