Anti-coal campaign planning March forum in Sandpoint

Last fall, the Sierra kicked off its Beyond Coal campaign in Spokane. Since then, the effort has been steadily gaining momentum through the region. The goal of the campaign is to stop a proposal by ‘Big Coal’ to strip mine 130 million tons of coal each year from the Powder River Basin in Montana and Wyoming, export it via train through Spokane, and ship it from Washington’s coast to China and other coal-hungry Asian markets. According to the Sierra Club, this project would mean 50-70, 1.5 mile long trains thundering through Spokane every day, spewing coal dust and diesel particulates. Since DTE’s last update, the Sierra Club has hired Crystal Gartner to be the Campaign’s Associate Field Organizer for Spokane. Her mission is to get Spokane’s opposition heard, and to have the negative impacts to our region considered during the permitting processes and environmental reviews. She explains that the project proponents will attempt to define the scope of the project as narrowly as possible, so that during permitting they only need to address and mitigate for impacts to mining sites and export terminal sites, not to the communities that sit along the rail lines. Sandpoint’s position is similar to Spokane’s – the project offers the town nothing positive in terms of jobs or investment, but will undoubtedly deliver coal dust, diesel particulates, traffic congestion and noise pollution, as trains rumble through population centers. Spokane Riverkeeper Bart Mihailovich describes both towns’ circumstances as: “We have nothing to gain, but everything to lose.” The Lake Pend Oreille Waterkeeper shares the Riverkeeper’s sentiment, which is why the organization is co-sponsoring a Coal Hard Truth Forum with the Sierra Club on March 1 at 6:30 pm in Sandpoint’s Panida’s Little Theater. For Waterkeeper Executive Director, Shannon Williamson, the threat this project poses to Lake Pend Oreille water quality is what scares her the most. She cites a report by the U.S. Department of Energy that reported 20 major derailments along the Powder River Basin Main Lines between 2005 and 2007, causing approximately $4.8 million in damage. The theory being that coal dust destabilizes tracks. “A derailment over Lake Pend Oreille would be, in the simplest terms, devastating,” she wrote in a recent op-ed, “Based on prior evidence, it’s really not a question of if this will happen, but when.” Williamson also noted that after Sandpoint residents breathe in deadly coal dust while the trains pass, they will have the pleasure of breathing it in all over again as it blows back from Asia after being burned. On the west side of the state, the Campaign’s fight against export terminals was recently dealt a discouraging blow when the Port of St. Helens Commissioners approved agreements with two companies to export up to 38 million tons of coal per year through Port Westward Industrial Park in Clatskanie. The Sierra Club Campaign and other opponents were angered and surprised that the Commissioners’ endorsement came immediately after the first public hearing on the issue and a subsequent closed executive session. “People are upset because the deal was made behind closed doors when transparency should be a priority,” Gartner says. Other potential port locations besides St. Helens, include Longview and Cherry Point. The Department of Natural Resources manages the state-owned aquatic lands in both these areas, meaning that the companies will need DNR-issued aquatic leases to load coal onto ships. Whether or not to issue the leases is a decision for the Commissioner of Public Lands, Peter Goldmark. According to Goldmark’s staff, the Commissioner has received thousands of emails, calls and letters regarding the issue, and that the “vast majority” have been opposed to the shipment of coal through Washington ports. “Only a handful have been in favor,” Goldmark’s director of communications reports. The Sierra Club is urging opponents to continue pressuring Goldmark to deny the leases. For Spokane, however, the specific location of the export terminals is largely irrelevant because the damage would be the same. Sandpoint is similarly situated. “Whether the route goes to Canada or Washington or down the Columbia River to St. Helens, all the coal would come through Spokane.” Gartner hasn’t heard any local opposition to Beyond Coal yet. First, she cannot conceive of any convincing pro-coal arguments, and people don’t really know what will be coming. “Increased coal train traffic brings Spokane nothing but harm without a single benefit or new job, and no seat at the decision table,” she says. “A lot of the focus is on the export terminals and mines, but not on what coal transport is going to do to those of us along the way.” Her goal is to bring attention to precisely those people.