Oil train vote goes to Spokane voters
The future of oil and coal traveling by rail through downtown Spokane will be decided by voters in November.
The City Council voted 6-0 on Monday night to put the question before voters, with City Councilman Breean Beggs – chief architect of the legislation – saying he hoped the platform of a presidential election would send a strong message to lawmakers and regulators at the federal level.
“Spokane might be built on 100 years of railroads, but it’s not built on oil and coal trains,” Beggs said.
Supporters of the ballot initiative, which would impose a $261 fine for each rail car of crude oil and uncovered coal that passes through downtown, cited a potential crisis on the scale of a dozen that have occurred nationwide since 2010. David Kovac, a representative of the Spokane Firefighters Union, said his organization supported the ban on oil trains specifically because of the potential safety risk to first responders dealing with a derailment downtown/Kip Hill, SR. More here (subscription required).
Question: Any guesses how this vote will turn out?
