The olympian.com reported that when the state reached agreement last year with Olympia based TransAlta to phase out Washington’s last two coal fired burners at the company’s Centralia power plant, it was widely lauded as a giant step toward improved air quality and cleaner energy.
By 2025, when the last of the two burners are shut down, Washington is poised to become one of just a few coal-free states.
But environmental and public health hazards related to coal are resurfacing and about to become a flash point issue in the Northwest once again.
The state Department of Ecology, with support from Gov Chris Gregoire is sensibly calling for a cumulative environmental review of proposals to build coal exporting mega-facilities near Bellingham and Longview.
Coal mining companies are looking to lucrative Asian markets, because many Midwest and East Coast power producers are converting their generators to natural gas. China, however, is projected to need 50% more coal by 2035 to fuel its aging power plants.
That coal could come from the Powder River Basin, on the Montana-Wyoming border, shipped by rail through Spokane to proposed ports at Cherry Point and Longview in Washington, and to three locations in Oregon.
That could bring massive quantities of open-top rail cars filled with coal down the Puget Sound coastline, through Olympia en route to Longview and Oregon. One study estimates the project would double the number of trains rumbling through Spokane, from 60 to 120 per day.
Critics said that pollution from drifting coal dust from the uncovered coal cars and increased diesel emissions will erase the state’s gains in air quality. They also point to the potential marine dangers from hundreds of single hulled cargo vessels navigating through the channels of Rosario and Haro straits.
Supporters of port expansion said that it will create hundreds of new jobs and generate about USD 6 billion in economic benefits. That figure mostly relates to the Montana-Wyoming mining operations, and the state’s two ports, because most Northwest communities have little to gain from slow-moving, 11/2-mile trains carrying coal.
Source - www.theolympian.com
(www.coalguru.com)
