The Department of Ecology listened to the people, and is doing the job the state Environmental Policy Act require. It recognized that coal terminals have far-reaching impacts, well beyond the site.
Coal in open rail cars transported over 1,000 miles impacts dozens of communities along the way. Unfortunately, coal doesn’t stay neatly confined in cars. It dribbles out onto the tracks, blows into the air, and often derails, all of which pollute our air, water and land. Shipping coal over the Columbia River bar, one of the most hazardous in the world, to be burned in Asia, generating tons of CO2, will impact climate change, the air we breathe and the acidity of the ocean on which we rely for food. The economic ramifications cannot be ignored.
Who is going to pay for cleanups? Who is going to pay for additional tracks when it becomes patently obvious that there is too much rail traffic for the existing infrastructure? How will this affect passenger rail service? These are all impacts of coal terminals. It is not enough to simply look at the site. The Department of Ecology realizes this, and I am grateful that it intends to do its job.
Dianne Kocer
Brush Prairie
