Law violated now

Sun., April 28, 2013

Your April 5 opinion, “Lawsuit not needed over coal dust,” missed the point that while Spokanites and other rail communities are asking for an area-wide study on the impacts of coal export proposals, the coal companies and BNSF Railway are breaking the law right now by violating the Clean Water Act and polluting our waterways.

Putting the coal companies on notice that they should clean up the pollution they’ve left around our waterways immediately or face a lawsuit is simply holding them accountable for jeopardizing public health and safety.

It begs the question if we can’t trust Big Coal and BNSF to be good neighbors now, why would we let them bring even more dirty coal trains into our city?

Laura Ackerman

Spokane

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