Two More Groups Form to Oppose Coal Trains

Bellingham resident Preston Schiller has been involved with transportation issues for more than 25 years. He witnessed the social and environmental devastation of King Coal up close and personal and is much chagrined to find Mr. Peabody’s coal trains showing up in Bellingham.

Recent weeks have seen some interesting activities and publications around the issue of the proposed coal terminal for Cherry Point and its potential impacts. Hundreds cheered the Coal-Free Bellingham (coal-free-bellingham.org) initiative campaign at its Jan. 26 launch, CFB pledges that such a measure would override the inherent weaknesses of environmental review and legal processes, citing cities out east that have passed ordinances against fracking. The next day former Bellingham Councilmember John Watts doubted that even if the initiative passed it would not pass muster with the City Council (http://bellinghamstertalk.blogspot.com/2012/01/coal-climate.html.) Less than two weeks later another effort, Protect Whatcom (protectwhatcom.org) was launched — complete with many “Coal Costs Us Protect Whatcom” yard signs--pledging to aggressively oppose the coal terminal proposal within the framework of environmental regulations and reviews, and claiming that CFB was (according to John Stark in The Bellingham Herald, Feb. 8) ‘“legally inaccurate” in saying that the local, state and federal regulatory process can’t be counted upon to block the coal terminal proposal.’ There are also some very good coal postings at facebook.com/350Bellingham.

John Stark at The Bellingham Herald Politics Blog has been devoting some ink to the initiative as well as the Protect Whatcom launch. At crosscut.com Floyd McKay provided valuable coverage of both the Bellingham initiative effort (and related efforts at Spokane and Pittsburgh, PA) and the strongly contested efforts of the Port of St. Helens (down the Columbia from Portland) to make itself a doormat for coal exports. McKay reminded us that the coal export efforts at the Ports of Longview and Grays Harbor (WA) and Coos Bay (OR) are still ongoing, though at a less advanced stage than those at St. Helens.

Jeff Margolis at goodbuy@everybodys.com continues to Safeguard the South Fork (of the Nooksack) with a series of “Community Conversation(s) on Coal Trains Running Through Whatcom Farmlands” in March and April. RE Sources Matt Krogh paddled over to the San Juan Islands for a series of community forums about the risks posed by the Cherry Point coal terminal proposal. The Dept. of Ecology announced that seven firms have submitted proposals seeking to assist it and the Army Corps of Engineers in preparing the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Cherry Point coal terminal proposal (see at communitywisebellingham.org). King County Executive Down Constantine sent a strongly-worded letter of concern to the Director of the WA Dept. of Ecology and the Whatcom County Executive about health, equity, social justice, environmental, traffic and economic impacts of the coal terminal proposal (see at coaltrainfacts.org). Perhaps Bellingham’s Mayor Kelli Linville could use that letter as a template for a similar letter to Ecology, the Army Corps and the new Whatcom County Executive Jack Louws?