Here are real numbers related to the coal exports issue:
For Port of Morrow near Boardman, Ore.: 12 jobs.
Estimated jobs at other ports due to extensive automation: 40 possible.
These numbers are according to http://www.coaltrainfacts.org:
Costs related to infrastructure paid by Washington taxpayers: Millions of dollars out of your pockets.
Loss to agriculture held on rail for coal trains and damage to crops: The potential is billions.
Potential cleanup costs and damage to residents’ property values and loss of jobs related to coal and new business startups: Billions.
It would be cheaper for the taxpayer to pay the normal salary plus benefits for the few jobs created.
This is now in the hands of the Army Corps of Engineers and state environmental departments. They are not interested in jobs. Their job is to look at the impacts, and we are asking that the Comprehensive Study be done in the “pass through” for coal trains where no port exists.
Because this will cost taxpayers so much, for those of us in Clark County, it is a reasonable request. Jobs and business loss due to coal should also have a voice. This is fair, or is the coal industry afraid of what we will find?
Toni Montgomery
Vancouver
