I need some help. I live is Salem, Oregon which is on the route of the proposed coal shipping from Powder River to Coos Bay, Oregon. There would be at most a few coal trains a day. In a couple of weeks there is a town meeting where we will be told that the big bad railroad wants to give us all black lung disease and we must stop it now. Please fact check my assumptions listed below.
Coal is not a hazardous material. There are no placards on cars. Train crews don’t wear dust masks.
On a lightly used route, we would see little coal dust 500 miles from the mines. The majority would blow off closer to the mines.
The railroads hate the dust as much as anybody else because of road bed problems. They are in litigation to force the cost onto the shippers.
A local community has little or no control over what the railroad, trucks, or planes transport through their area. That is done at a State or Federal level. Hey, which agency regulates the coal shipping? STB?
Any other things that could be said at a meeting to help calm the natives?
I worked for the largest investor owned electric power generator in North America. We were also at the time (I am retired) the 10th largest coal miner in the country. We mined more than 30 million tons a year to burn in our power plants. Coal dust is a problem, but there are mitigating strategies that can be deployed to reduce some of the problems in transporting it.
Coal dust has always been a problem, one that was accepted as part of the process of mining, transporting and burning but has now come under scrutiny for health reasons. Thus, coal is often screened and watered down for dust before loading, watered down after loading, known that a lot of coal dust falls to the bottom of the car in transit, that dust can also be formed in transit, not overloading a car reduces a lot of air particles. There are even chemical sprays used to cover the tops of coal piles, etc. Depending on the coal value and desitnation and use, one or all or none of the available technologies can be used.
Remember, you’re dealing with activists who want to stop the export of coal. The coal dust will be a non-issue that far from the mine but they’ll use it, and any other issue they can use, to achieve their main objective of preventing the coal exports.
You can expect anyone speaking against the proposal to have been coached by lawyers and professional activist types. They know what buttons to push and how to most effectively push those buttons. Remember most of all that they’re not seeking an honest solution to the coal dust problem, which really doesn’t exist at that location, They’re trying to stop the coal exports.
Expect them to use the 6V formula:
Victim
Villain
Value
Void
Vindicator
Vehicle
The victims will be the people of the area who will be potrayed as at risk to have their environment and health damaged.
The Villains will be the greed motivated project promoters and the railroad who seek to harm the people in pursuit of money.
The value will the the understandable desire of the locals to live heallthy lives in a good environment.
The void to be expolted is the lack of knowledge regarding the non-existence of a coal dust problem that far from the mine and the systems available to deal with any dust problems clos
There is a great deal of cycnicism and truth in that aphorism. The audience, by virtue of its attendance, will be interested, and the heavy majority will have already formed their opinion on the subject. Virtually nobody in attendance is going there with an open mind. Each individual has subscribed to one side of the issue because it is in their interests to adopt that position. If they hate coal, or those who extract it, or those who ship it, or those who ultimately use it as a purchased material, nothing said in favour of coal will be valued for its veracity or verifiability.
Think ‘brick wall’. A very thick brick wall. Bring chewing gum for some relief of your jaw-set.
Also true of the opposite: If they love coal, or those who extract it, or those who ship it, or those who ultimately use it as a purchased material, nothing said critical of coal will be valued for its veracity or verifiability.
Matt Rose visited the Northwest this summer and straightened out a number of false notions that had been getting perpetuated in the local press. Prior to that, coal opponents had been circulating inflated tonnage figures for exports. Those inflated figures were based on an assumption that each and every one of the half-dozen or so proposed coal ports will be approved, built, and operated at max capacity. Those inflated tonnage figures were then translated into inflated train numbers, with some published articles in Northwest newspapers claiming there would be as many as 80 coal trains a day coming through Spokane. The fact is, as Rose pointed out, only a small number of the proposed ports will likely be built, if ever. Rose predicted two, maybe three ports at most, which he says would result in adding 8 to 16 loaded coal trains per day.
Proide counter arguements to any false claims that you can counter. But also emphasize a positive. The project will provide opportunities for local people to better their lives though job creation.
If the hearing body goes on record against opportunity for the people it should be very sure that it has a valid reason for seeking the denial of opportunity. It shouldn’t buy into any “hype” but be very sure of what it is doing. A vote against the project will be a vote to prevent people from improving their lives through better employment.
My understanding is the same as your. A railroad is a common carrier. It cannot refuse to ship any given product even if it is hazardous.
I find a couple of other things interesting:
Where shale oil is being produced companies would like to build pipelines to transport it. Environmentalists have opposed the pipelines. The oil is now being shipped by rail.
Where I live in the northeast we could potentially generate 25 per cent of our electricity with off shore wind turbines. Environmentalists oppose them because they are not aesthetic and because birds can get caught in the blades. We wind up generating a lot of electricity using fossil fuels–coal and, increasingly natural gas.
My impression is that now coal use is in decline and is being replaced by natural gas. However, the natural gas is made by fracking, a process which environmentalists also oppose.
At the same time when I was young homes had 1 or 2 window air conditioning units. Today many if not most homes have central air. We used to use most electricity in the winter; now because of central air we use it in summer and we are expanding our electrical distribution systems to avoid brownouts. We have to make that electricity some way.
I haul coal on the NS and have heard this discussion numerous times over the years.I also live along the CSX’s main coal artery here in Eastern Ky .
Local Greenup,Ky. town officials have complained of the dust coating cars,houses and people for along time.And their solution to help was have the CSX slow down when going thru town and install water sprayers along the right of way to keep the dust down.
I’m not sure of the success,but the CSX did go along with the idea.
Just mention that if the Port is NOT approved 100’s of UNION Jobs will go to Someplace Else and they will get all the Benefits of the Port meaning TAX MONEY FOR THE SCHOOLS and the TOWNS in the Area. Bet it Get Approved Real Fast.
Are these people opposed to the coal, or to the increased train traffic (and are using the coal as their “reasoning” trying to score points with the green environmental types?)
Either way, I think the original poster is wasting his time and breath. It will be near impossible to convince a small group of outspoken critics.
… and lowering the trade deficit by exporting more Made in USA goods overseas…and bringing more of that Chinese money back to the USA,…and providing more jobs for Americans…etc.
There’s a lot of people out there that don’t care about good jobs, union or otherwise, when those jobs are industrial in nature. If the jobs don’t involve a 4+ year degree, working inside an office with a computer, it isn’t “real” or productive work. Many don’t realize that some of those looked down upon industrial jobs have better pay and benefits than those “real” jobs they think of. Worse yet, if they do realize those jobs where you might get dirty pay better, they think it’s wrong because you probably didn’t need a 4+ year degree and you’re not in an office at a computer.
I hear you on that one. Last year After Taxes I netted a Take Home of over 100K Now I am an O/O of my truck. But alot of my Bossmans Company Drivers are pullin down about 70K a year hauling the same Stuff I do. Most people around here that work in an Office with a Degree are lucky to make 40-50K a year. Hell I made more than the Superintendant of my Kids School District and have less than a HS edumacation. I had to Drop out of HS when well lets just say Kiddo Number 1 decided that he was going to spoil my life 20 Years ago. I would not trade him for all the Degrees in the world he KNOWS Education is the key but he KNOWS that getting dirty is not the end of the world for work. His Momma and got married the Day I dropped out I got my GED 2 years later and I became an O/O 14 Years ago with an Old truck paid it off in less than 6 months bought a NEW one in 2001 and now have a 2013 On Order.
I would not trade my life but those that think Office work is the Only real Work sorry I can not do that stuff.