Getting Off the Coal Train ...

Having left a legacy of acid mine drainage in West Virginia and desecrated sacred mesas in Arizona, and having fueled enough coal-fired power plants to be a major contributor to global warming, Peabody Coal (and others) have figured out yet another way to degrade our environment -- they now want to ship coal by train and boat all the way from Wyoming to China.

According to the Sightline Institute, this scheme would have an even bigger carbon impact than the Keystone XL "tar sands" pipeline, which would be awful enough in it's own right.

Coal trains would meander across much of the Pacific Northwest, including the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, to one or more ports in Washington state (see map). Fortunately, Port authorities in Tacoma have rejected plans for shipping coal and backers of a coal terminal in Longview (just north of Portland, Oregon) have, for now, withdrawn their plans. So now, coal shippers are focusing on moving the coal all the way north (through Seattle) to Bellingham, WA, where a coal terminal proposal near the Canadian border is still being hotly debated. You can learn more via this three-minute video.

Fortunately, River Network Partner organizations like Spokane Riverkeeper and other allies like Columbia Riverkeeper are taking the fight beyond the proposed Port terminals to communities all along the Burlington-Northern train route.

And via our Campaign to Sustain Water and Energy, River Network is helping local groups like Spokane Riverkeeper build their capacity to be effective advocates, while also documenting how energy alternatives like wind and PV solar are a "win-win-win" for our climate and our water resources (watch for our forthcoming report "Burning Waters: The Water Footprint of Energy" soon).