Ongoing Coverage Of The Region's Coal Export Proposals
Here’s your guide to coal in the Northwest: The latest on where the terminals are proposed and how increased train traffic may affect communities along way. Full Story »
Pictured (clockwise from upper left corner): Bonnie Meltzer, Mark Lowry, L.J. Turner, Robbie Robinson, Anne McIntyre, Jay Julius, a vacant storefront in Coos Bay, Ore., and Robert Hill. Downtown Camas, Wash. pictured in center.
Should coal from Wyoming and Montana be transported through the Pacific Northwest and shipped to Asia? In our multimedia special, “Voices of Coal” we bring you nine diverse perspectives from people across the region with a stake in that debate.
A freight train idles off the mainline in the heart of The Portland Triangle. Two passenger trains and another freight train passed by the idling train over the course of about an hour in January.
Proposals to build five coal export terminals in the Pacific Northwest would bring as many as 47 more freight trains through the region each day. Currently 150 to 175 trains travel in the area each day moving through rail passages that already are congested.
The Westshore Terminal near Vancouver, B.C. handles about 30 million tons of coal per year, loading it onto ships for export. Westshore spent $7 million upgrading pumps, rain guns and misting devices around the site used to dampen and control coal dust.
Environmental groups, public health officials and communities along rail lines are asking questions about the potential impacts of transporting coal through the Northwest. Some of those questions are about coal dust and how it could affect human health.
Ashley Ahearn of KUOW/EarthFix moderates a panel of experts who talked at Town Hall Seattle Wednesday evening about plans to build coal export terminals in the Pacific Northwest.
Several hundred people gathered at Town Hall Seattle for an EarthFix panel discussion about coal exports in the Northwest.
A senatorial investigation could shed new light on the ways companies influence the royalties they pay to extract coal from public lands.
Calls for tighter oversight of federal coal leases could impact the future of five coal export terminals proposed for the Pacific Northwest. Here are 10 things you should know about the federal coal leasing program in the Powder River Basin.
People on both sides of the debate lined up outside for a chance to speak at the coal export hearing in Seattle.
More than 2,000 people showed up Thursday to tell regulators what they think should be considered in the environmental review of a proposed coal export terminal near Bellingham, Wash. If built, it could be the largest such facility on the West Coast.
Bellingham residents enjoy Boulevard Park, which is sandwiched between the train tracks and Bellingham Bay.
American coal companies are looking to the Northwest as the fastest way to bring their product from the Powder River Basin of Wyoming and Montana to Asian markets. There are now five ports in Washington and Oregon considering coal export terminals. In part two of our series on Coal in the Northwest, we head to the site of what could one day be the largest coal export facility on the West Coast.
Coal trains being loaded at the Black Thunder Mine in the Powder River Basin.
Five ports in Washington and Oregon are considering building export terminals to ship American coal to Asia. The debate is heating up in the Northwest over the economic promise and environmental impacts. But 1,200 miles away in Wyoming, coal mining is already delivering dollars and driving concerns about water quality and changing lifestyles.
A sign at a rally in support of coal terminals, organized by the conservative group Americans for Prosperity.
A new public opinion poll for EarthFix finds a majority of residents in Washington, Oregon and Idaho support transporting coal from Wyoming and Montana through the Northwest so it can be exported to Asia. The biggest segment of this group says it’s somewhat, rather than strongly, supportive.
Among the various proposals to build coal export terminals in the Northwest, only one of them would rely on two different ports. That has residents of the Columbia River towns of Boardman and Clatskanie, Oregon asking if coal will be good for their communities. Full Story »
Tom and Karen Hall own the Camas Hotel. They worry increased train traffic required to move coal to export terminals will drive down tourism.
The Columbia River town of Camas, Wash. is succeeding at building a reputation as a tourist destination. But some residents worry their community could develop a new reputation: as a pass-through town for noisy, dusty coal trains.
Congressman Jim McDermott has served in the House since 1989. His newest bill is called the True Cost of Coal Act of 2012. EarthFix's Ashley Ahearn sat down with the congressman to talk about his proposal to tax coal to offset the effects of mining and transporting it.
A half-dozen Northwest ports are considering building terminals to export coal to Asia. In this EarthFix Conversation, Ashley Ahearn talks to climate expert Steve Davis about what mining, transporting and burning American coal looks like in terms of CO2 emissions.
A half-dozen different coal export proposals have popped up around the Pacific Northwest. It isn't exactly an industry Oregon and Washington have been trying to lure. In fact, the projects face considerable opposition throughout the region. But the economic incentives to export are pretty strong, too. For more on the tradeoffs of coal exports in the Northwest, EarthFix spoke with Darren Epps, editor of Platts' market analysis newsletter on U.S. Coal.
There's a lot of coal in the middle of the U.S. and China wants it, putting the Northwest right in the middle of transportation routes. EarthFix's Ashley Ahearn gets the lowdown on coal and how it's moving through the Northwest.
EarthFix is a public media project of Oregon Public Broadcasting and Boise State Public Radio, Idaho Public Television, KCTS 9 Seattle, KUOW Puget Sound Public Radio, Northwest Public Radio and Television, Southern Oregon Public Television and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
