The only clean coal is that which is left in the ground. Coal burned in China will emit pollutants which acidify the ocean and other smaller bodies of water which will destroy the fishery of the Pacific Northwest, costing thousands of jobs. If people were really concerned about jobs they would consider this fact.
Charles D Robbins - 11 years ago
I believe that Whatcom County Wahington needs jobs. The people and the politicians there have done nothing but obstruct this terminal project sibnce it was concieved but none of them have done anything to create any (not one) job in Whatcom Couty in the meantime. People here seem to think that service jobs taking care of retired people and/or working in some capacity for the state county or federal government or state University is enough. Well it isn't. Everyone can not work for the Government because then no one makes money to pay the taxes neccessary to create these publiic sector jobs. We need some jobs that will add value to the economy and create new money and new tax revenues which will make Whatcom County less dependent on service jobs, serving Canadians and a more a strong and independent county.
William Hays - 11 years ago
Douglas Smith is a total loon. That said, our Montana-mined coal is going directly to Canada, for export from Roberts Bank in Vancouver, BC. The locomotives, on the trains, are mostly Canadian Pacific and cross the border at Sweetgrass, MT/Coutts, AB. Lost opportunity and lost revenue for America. Lost jobs, in the northwest, too.
Douglas Smith - 11 years ago
As a concerned of citizen of Bellingham I speak in opposition to the proposed Gateway Pacific Coal Export Terminal.
We need to take into account the impacts of this proposed project in terms of the effect on global warming by the commerce of extracting fossil fuels for profit. And the fact that humanity had better cease and desist such enterprises. It is definitely "An Inconvenient Truth", but one this citizen takes very seriously.
Specifically I would suggest a thorough review of the estimated CO2 emmisions of the coal that is shipped from the proposed GPT terminal when it is (burned in China for energy). And that those emmisions be added to the EIS. Those figures should then be used to calculate GPT's (share) on a percentage basis on global warming. And an extrapolation from that impact should be made for the costs in real dollars in terms of wildfires, crop loss, effects of polar ice melt and it's corresponding rise of sea levels, hurricanes, Desertification, species extinction including fisheries losses, human population migration and resulting chaos (due to sea level rise).
The Gateway Pacific Terminal will not create any positive outcomes period! The small number of permanent jobs is insignificant compared to the damage done to the health and welfare of our entire planet.
Please do not rely on that old saw of "someone is going to build it somewhere else if we don't build it here". Every thinking person knows that in the context of the climate crisis which is already upon us, "that dog don't hunt"
Drew Pike - 11 years ago
The dirty little seceret the media does not want to share, is the trains will run either to Bellingham, or Vancouver BC. They will run through Seattle and Bellingham either way. They will run on BN rails, and I am not sure how much the Cities have to say about it. Why not keep the money in the State to do some good instead of letting it pass through to Canada?
Allen Evans - 11 years ago
I've been involved in the fossil fuel side of the power industry, as a conveyor designer, for almost 40 years and the use of coal in a modern power plant IS NOT going to cook the Earth beyond repair. The effects would be minimal at best, if at all. As far as the terminals themselves goes, they can be built to have a minimal impact on their surroundings by having enclosed conveyors, transfer stations, and effective dust collection systems. While I'd rather see the coal
used here as an affordable source of energy, our current administration would rather drive us towards a far more expensive, far less reliable energy source so as to decrease our standard of living.
The only clean coal is that which is left in the ground. Coal burned in China will emit pollutants which acidify the ocean and other smaller bodies of water which will destroy the fishery of the Pacific Northwest, costing thousands of jobs. If people were really concerned about jobs they would consider this fact.
I believe that Whatcom County Wahington needs jobs. The people and the politicians there have done nothing but obstruct this terminal project sibnce it was concieved but none of them have done anything to create any (not one) job in Whatcom Couty in the meantime. People here seem to think that service jobs taking care of retired people and/or working in some capacity for the state county or federal government or state University is enough. Well it isn't. Everyone can not work for the Government because then no one makes money to pay the taxes neccessary to create these publiic sector jobs. We need some jobs that will add value to the economy and create new money and new tax revenues which will make Whatcom County less dependent on service jobs, serving Canadians and a more a strong and independent county.
Douglas Smith is a total loon. That said, our Montana-mined coal is going directly to Canada, for export from Roberts Bank in Vancouver, BC. The locomotives, on the trains, are mostly Canadian Pacific and cross the border at Sweetgrass, MT/Coutts, AB. Lost opportunity and lost revenue for America. Lost jobs, in the northwest, too.
As a concerned of citizen of Bellingham I speak in opposition to the proposed Gateway Pacific Coal Export Terminal.
We need to take into account the impacts of this proposed project in terms of the effect on global warming by the commerce of extracting fossil fuels for profit. And the fact that humanity had better cease and desist such enterprises. It is definitely "An Inconvenient Truth", but one this citizen takes very seriously.
Specifically I would suggest a thorough review of the estimated CO2 emmisions of the coal that is shipped from the proposed GPT terminal when it is (burned in China for energy). And that those emmisions be added to the EIS. Those figures should then be used to calculate GPT's (share) on a percentage basis on global warming. And an extrapolation from that impact should be made for the costs in real dollars in terms of wildfires, crop loss, effects of polar ice melt and it's corresponding rise of sea levels, hurricanes, Desertification, species extinction including fisheries losses, human population migration and resulting chaos (due to sea level rise).
The Gateway Pacific Terminal will not create any positive outcomes period! The small number of permanent jobs is insignificant compared to the damage done to the health and welfare of our entire planet.
Please do not rely on that old saw of "someone is going to build it somewhere else if we don't build it here". Every thinking person knows that in the context of the climate crisis which is already upon us, "that dog don't hunt"
The dirty little seceret the media does not want to share, is the trains will run either to Bellingham, or Vancouver BC. They will run through Seattle and Bellingham either way. They will run on BN rails, and I am not sure how much the Cities have to say about it. Why not keep the money in the State to do some good instead of letting it pass through to Canada?
I've been involved in the fossil fuel side of the power industry, as a conveyor designer, for almost 40 years and the use of coal in a modern power plant IS NOT going to cook the Earth beyond repair. The effects would be minimal at best, if at all. As far as the terminals themselves goes, they can be built to have a minimal impact on their surroundings by having enclosed conveyors, transfer stations, and effective dust collection systems. While I'd rather see the coal
used here as an affordable source of energy, our current administration would rather drive us towards a far more expensive, far less reliable energy source so as to decrease our standard of living.