Coal in the PNW

Trains Magazine General Discussion
1

Observation #1. Coal will be exported, if not by U.S. ports, then via Canadian or Mexican ports. And it does not have to traverse BN to get there. Along with the tonnage comes jobs, you know, that pesky thing that one bases a local economy on.

Observation #2. Ships do not ballast with oil. They use water, sometimes of questionable quality, but there again, that is not an insurmountable issue.

Observation #3. Diesel locomotives are pretty clean as far as emissions go. This is not the bad old days of SD40-2’s. It has already been demostrated that if localities (ala California) want higher standards for emissions, the carriers do accomodate.

Observation #4. While coal dust exists, like diesel particulate, or any type of emission, it’s concentration away from the source tends to be minimal at best. Given the cases that BN faught before the STB several years ago, there is an attempt to limit coal dust because of ballast fouling. Technology exists to eliminate it…at a cost of course.

And my last Observation is the harshest. The people in that state/region are a hazard to their own selves and the Human gene pool. I used to love the Sierra Club years ago. But since being funded and run by radicals, it has lost my favor. There is no need for hysteria and hyperventalation.

Our earth can survive, even despite ourselves at times. We have the greatest minds anywhere, and can apply them to problems. Instead, those in academic circles plant these radical ideas in the minds of young people, and grow them with much human fertilizer.

We have great reserves of energy, if we choose to do the right things, and support them as a nation. Otherwise, left to the ideas of those such as the Sierra Club, we will return to living in caves eating twig food.

2

QUESTION:

Is the Sierra Club suddenly wanting to ban the export of coal because of coal train dust and diesel exhaust; or does the Sierra Club want to ban coal export because they have the coal industry on the run domestically, and they don’t want it to escape destruction by suddenly shifting to foreign markets?

3

This was under a different thread. However the newfangled software here seems to have started a new thread, and not post under the old subject of:

http://cs.trains.com/trn/f/111/t/211093.aspx

As far as I am concerned, there is little wrong with the coal industry today that cannot be fixed by new technology and money. But entities like the Sierra Club and others scare away legitimate investors with their talk of doom and gloom. On top of it, our Government does little to help the situation.

For Trains followers, this is the same kind of leadership we saw in the 1940’s onward that the likes of Kalmbach and Morgan wrote towards Government’s wayward or nonexistant policies on transportation.

4

Ken,

The problems in the 1940’s and now are not non-exsistent policies. We had and have lots of policies, but virtually every one of them is a boot on the throat of the railroad industry then and the general public today.

Mac

5

RRKEN, Keep reminding the Sierra Club, ALL the worlds population will fit in the state of Texas and each person will have 1000 square feet of space, the world doesn’t seem that crowwded now does it?

6

Coal built this country and should be allowed to continue as a major export of the United States.

7

That may be true, but how much land is required to feed them? Not all land is arable.

8

Yes, and it should be allowed to continue in use within the U.S. as well.

9

I absolutely agree!!!

10

Getting back to the question raised above; “Why not take the coal somewhere else like Mexico or Canada and export it from there?” I’m sure either country would love to have the port jobs if Washington State doesn’t want them.

George

11

Currently, there is a dispute between the railroads and the coal shippers over who should pay for the damage that coal dust does to railroad tracks. I would speculate that this west coast anti-coal protest will result in a mandate for covered coal cars for the purpose of protecting the environment from coal dust, thus settling the dispute between the railroads and coal shippers by default. That is the silver lining for the railroads.

12

Some, in fact lots, does get shipped from Mexican and Canadian ports…so why not put Americans to work here doing the same…port designation depends on port destination, too. But now, after almost 200 years of transporting–and mining–coal the Sierra Club is getting around to complaining? Something more is at stake here. It is more an excuse to not increase rail traffic, cause traffic jams at crossings, noise at night, and disrupt lives in general. They’ve got their facts screwed up, the railroads are grandfathered by being there first, and the STB has more say than local governments. And there seem still to be concrete, asphalt, and gasoline diehards who cannot accept the problems and costs of the highways over rail transport. No where have I seen how many trucks down the parallel highways would upset their sylvan solitude which should shut them up.