Coal companies have revealed plans to ship millions of tons of coal by rail from the Powder River Basin in Wyoming through the Columbia Gorge to Northwest ports for export to Asian markets.
If coal export plans go forward, it would result in up to 54 uncovered coal trains, each more than one mile in length, moving through the Columbia River Gorge every day. The resulting toxic coal dust and diesel emissions pose a huge threat to air quality in the Gorge, which is already experiencing air pollution problems. To accommodate this significant increase in rail traffic, new tracks would likely need to expand into environmentally sensitive areas. River access would be effectively cut off at many sites due to increased rail traffic, and the accompanying delays would hurt local businesses and risk delaying arrivals of emergency vehicles such as fire fighters and paramedics. Coal export would not provide any additional energy to our community and it would come at a terrible cost to our health, environment, and public safety.